2017-05-25nasdaq.com

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's May 2-3 meeting showed that policymakers anticipate a rate hike soon, possibly in the central bank meeting next month. At the same time, by agreeing to shrink the balance sheet gradually over a number of years, the Federal Open Market Committee has minimized possibilities of market gyrations and its impact on economic growth.

...

The Fed also moved toward a consensus on a proposal to gradually unwind the massive balance sheet built up over the course of the asset buying program that was the core of Fed's quantitative strategy... But the Fed does not want to reduce the massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet at one go. Rather, it plans to let it shrink as the securities mature. The Fed officials did agree to end the reinvestment of principal of maturing securities in slow but increasing stages. Such an approach will stay on auto-pilot, until and unless there is major deterioration in the domestic economic front.

Even a maturation-based unwind is going to be a lot for the market to swallow... it has become dependent upon the Fed soaking up a huge amount of issuance in the last 9 years...



Comments: Be the first to add a comment

add a comment | go to forum thread