COSTELLO: Markets from Tokyo to New York are surging today after the Federal Reserve announced another round of quantitative easing, promising to keep mortgage rates at an all-time low. Maribel Aber is at the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. So, tell us about the plan.</s>MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Here's how it breaks down. The Fed is taking risk in the form of mortgage debt off the bank's shoulders. So every month for an unlimited time, the Fed will print $40 million to buy bonds that the banks are holding. So, they are essentially giving the banks cash for that debt, with the understanding that the banks will want to give out more loans. Now, Carol, the trick is to see if businesses want to take out loans and use the money to hire people. The net/net here is that the Fed hopes to fuel more spending and eventually more hiring -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: So, the $40 billion a month question, will it work?</s>ABEL: Well, the interest rates are already low. So the question is, will consumers and businesses be more likely now to take out loans just because the Fed has started this program? Is the confidence there to take out a loan in a bad economy? One thing the Fed can't do, Carol, is erase uncertainty out there. Congress can help with that, though, by acting to back off the country off of a fiscal cliff we keep talking about and getting the debt under control. Stimulus would be a lot more likely to work if businesses have a clear idea of what lies ahead. But don't expect any clarity until after the election.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Maribel Aber from the NASDAQ site, thank you. Violence erupting across Egypt and Libya in response to that anti- Muslim film. So, how can the United States help to secure the region? We'll look into what can be done.
Interest Rates to Stay Low through 2015