Despite a recent slowdown in the U.S. housing recovery, October Federal Reserve meeting minutes show policymakers still expect to dial down bond purchases within a few months, reports USA Today.
It adds Fed officials debated at the recent meeting about “whether to pull back the program even before the job market shows clear improvement if concerns about its costs and risks increase.” Read the minutes.
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CNBC warned earlier today that if this type of taper talk was evident in the minutes, investors should keep a close eye on yields. It added the minutes set out the interest rate course for the rest of the year.
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This time around, the Federal Reserve wrestled at its meeting with how to assure investors that even after it started to pull back on its economic stimulus, it still intends to keep its keep short-term rate near record lows.
The minutes of its October 2013 meeting showed all but one Fed official believed it was appropriate to wait before announcing it wanted to take the first step to reduce the $85 billion per month in bond purchases.
Most wanted to better communicate to the public its plans for both slowing its bond purchases and keeping borrowing rates low to encourage spending and keep markets stable.
Several participants also believed the Fed should keep its short-term rate low even after unemployment fell below 6.5%.
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