Salient points. If the Fed is behind the inflation, there is something we are missing. For example, I have personally struggled to find what bank reserves are

Salient points. If the Fed is behind the inflation, there is something we are missing. For example, I have personally struggled to find what bank reserves are useful for. I surely doubt they're totally useless. I can only assume that they are a more preferential asset with relation to the Basel requirements on further loan creation. But since banks are not constrained by these requirements right now (as far as I understand), it's unlikely to have a meaningful effect. Another way to look at it is that this is putting a floor on Treasury asset prices, which could in theory somewhat translate to asset price inflation as more market participants are able to liquidate their treasuries at a higher price, whose dollars would then go into other assets. An alternate take is Jeff Sneider's - where he says that QE (and central bank actions, in general) are more of a tool for instilling confidence in the market rather than anything else.