WASHINGTON—To meet the dislocation the coronavirus pandemic unleashed on the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has mobilized the central bank to move faster and farther than ever before. In the short weeks since financial markets seized up, Mr. Powell has placed the Fed on wartime footing. He took up the central bank’s playbook from the 2008 financial crisis and then some—cutting rates to near zero, purchasing huge quantities of government debt and, breaking a taboo, lending to American businesses.

Source: Wall Street Journal March 30, 2020 19:18 UTC