Fed sizes up cut to $4.5-trillion balance sheet this year, minutes show
Most Fed officials see gradual increases in the federal funds rate and change to the committee’s reinvestment policy
Washington — Most Federal Reserve officials said they backed a policy change that would begin shrinking the central bank’s $4.5-trillion balance sheet later this year, as they reiterated their outlook for gradual interest-rate increases. "Most participants anticipated that gradual increases in the federal funds rate would continue and judged that a change to the committee’s reinvestment policy would likely be appropriate later this year," according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s March 14-15 meeting released Wednesday in Washington. "Many participants emphasised that reducing the size of the balance sheet should be conducted in a passive and predictable manner," the minutes showed. The record provides an outline of the discussion US central bankers held before approving a quarter-point increase in their benchmark lending rate. The minutes hew closely to chairwoman Janet Yellen’s account of the monetary-policy discussion laid out at her news conference after the rat...
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