(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve’s massive stash of bonds and other assets slipped for a third straight week to its smallest size since mid-May, data released by the central bank on Thursday showed.
The Fed’s total balance sheet size declined by about $74 billion to $7.06 trillion as of July 1 versus $7.13 trillion a week earlier.
The decline was led by a roughly $50 billion fall in outstanding currency swaps with foreign central banks, the fifth straight weekly drop and a signal of an easing U.S. dollar crunch that had been an early feature of the financial strains caused by the coronavirus crisis.
(Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Chris Reese)
