Politi on Fed mortgage asset sales

The Federal Reserve is leaning towards a plan to sell more than $1,000bn worth of mortgage assets gradually over five years, according to minutes from last month’s meeting of US monetary policymakers.

Although no final decision has been made, notes from the April 27-28 meeting revealed that most of the Federal Open Market Committee has concluded that mortgage asset sales should be a part of the US central bank’s efforts to tighten monetary policy.


But a majority of FOMC members also indicated that asset sales should be “deferred for some time” while the economy gathers strength and should not precede a rise in interest rates.