For some banks, the combined issuance of asset-backed securities and commercial paper (short-dated securities) amounted to about half of all their loans.

ECONOMIST: America��s banks are not as healthy as they look

Operation Twist is a program where the Federal Reserve sells shorter-dated securities and buys longer-dated ones in a bid to push down longer-term yields.

FORBES: Markets Anticipate More Twist If Fed Acts; Gold Reaction To Twist Likely More Muted Than To QE3

By buying longer-dated securities, in this case, 6 to 30 years out, and selling maturities of 3 years and younger, it would squash the yield for farther-out Treasurys and lift the yield for the nearer Treasurys.

FORBES: FOCUS: Fed's 'Twist' Program Likely To Have Little Long Term Impact On Markets

Italy's borrowing costs leapt to a four-month high at a sale of short-dated government securities on Tuesday.

WSJ: Italian Securities Battered Amid Election Gridlock

The Fed banks began buying risky assets on a large scale: longer-dated Treasury paper and mortgage securities.

FORBES: Could A Federal Reserve Bank Go Bust?

Their American counterparts, for instance, rely far less on American government bonds, and are much more willing to hold long-dated corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

ECONOMIST: British government debt

As we have pointed out over the past year in our disclosures and quarterly calls, we have taken advantage of the dislocations in the European sovereign debt market by buying short dated debt in European peripherals and financing those securities to their exact maturity date.

FORBES: Banks Rebound As Fed Wraps Up Meeting, Bernanke Prepares To Speak