The Federal Reserve's total consolidated assets stood at $6.7 trillion as of August 5, 2026, according to a tracker published by the American Action Forum (AAF). The figure was up $10 billion from the prior week and more than $108 billion higher than a year earlier, the think tank reported. The tracker, written by Thomas Kingsley, Director of Financial Services Policy at AAF, follows the Fed's consolidated assets as the best indicator of the central bank's direct intervention in the economy.
The Fed's dual mandate requires it to pursue stable prices and maximum employment. Its traditional tool for these goals is the federal funds rate, the short-term interest rate that determines the cost of overnight lending between banks. During the 2007-2008 financial crisis, however, lowering rates to zero was judged insufficient to stabilize economies in freefall, and the Fed turned to unconventional measures.
One of these was large-scale asset purchases, commonly known as quantitative easing, under which the Fed buys securities, typically mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasuries, injecting both capital and liquidity into the market. According to AAF, the routine use of quantitative easing as a crisis tool has made the Fed's total assets a closely watched figure. Securities the Fed purchases are recorded as assets on its balance sheet, so the total reflects the state of quantitative easing and, by extension, the degree to which the Fed has deemed intervention necessary.
The think tank also cautioned that this approach carries risks, noting that for the first time in its history the Fed is simultaneously regulator, supervisor and participant in the economy. The Federal Reserve publishes its balance sheet weekly, typically on Wednesday afternoons at about 4:30 p.m. The AAF tracker draws on Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) series WALCL (total assets), TREAST (Treasury securities) and WSHOMCB (mortgage-backed securities).
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Source: americanactionforum.org