The U.S. central bank now has a stake in the fortunes of a broad swath of corporate America after buying about $1.3 billion of bond funds with debt issued by firms in all walks of the world’s biggest economy, from Apple Inc. to a clutch of companies in bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The details on holdings in the Fed’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, one of nearly a dozen emergency programs the Fed has rolled out since March to respond to the coronavirus crisis, were published on Friday. The Fed’s largest investment-grade fund holding — iShares iBoxx US Dollar Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF — contains 30 Apple bonds giving the Fed about $5.7 million of exposure to the maker of iPhones through that ETF alone as of May 19. Apple is also a holding in other ETFs the Fed bought. The largest of the facility’s junk bond fund holdings — iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG.P) — gives the Fed around $25,000 of exposure to three companies that have filed for bankruptcy since the health crisis erupted, including $14,000 to car rental company Hertz, $10,000 to retailer JC Penney, and $1,500 to department store operator Neiman Marcus. All told the Fed made 158 purchases of shares in 15 exchange-traded funds from May 12 and May 18, the data showed.
