STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with markets absorbing the Fed's latest move.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The Federal Reserve is going to buy government bonds and buy a bunch of those mortgage-backed securities - a total of more than one trillion dollars. And the theory is when the Fed pumps that money in, there is more money available for everyone else to borrow. So investors around the world are trying to figure out what this move means and the reaction is mixed. Most markets in Asia are up following the jump in U.S. stock prices yesterday. But a side effect of the Fed's move is that currencies other than the dollar become stronger. It's a rule of supply and demand. If there's a greater supply of dollars - the Fed is basically printing money here - if it is a greater supply of dollars, they value those down a little bit, other currencies become stronger, and a stronger Yen has already been hurting profits at Japan's big exporters. Today companies like Honda, Toyota and Canon all saw their stock prices fall even more.
International stocks were trading higher, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion spending plan to help end the global recession. Analysts are concerned that the ambitious scope of the Fed's plans could signal the U.S. economy is in bigger trouble than originally thought.