When it comes to the secondary-market program, which focuses on already-issued bonds, the Fed said in its investment management agreement released Monday that purchases would vary based on market conditions, with a goal of “reducing the broad-based deterioration of liquidity seen in March 2020 to levels that correspond more closely to prevailing economic conditions” that will eventually transition into “a reduced, steady pace” of buying to maintain market functioning.

Given that secondary market functioning has largely returned to normal, that could be a quick process.

While the program has been cheered by many on Wall Street for reinvigorating credit markets, there are critics of the central bank’s actions to shore up the big companies that tap corporate debt markets.

The antimonopoly group American Economic Liberties Project has been characterizing the corporate program as a “bailout” for companies like Boeing, which has managed to issue debt since the Fed announced that the program was coming and restored market functioning…