Wednesday, 07 April, 2021
(BN) Fed Saw ‘Some Time’ Before Taper Conditions Met, Minutes Sh
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2021-04-07 18:07:35.45 GMT
By Craig Torres
(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve officials saw it taking some
time before the conditions would be met for scaling back their
massive monthly asset purchases when they met last month.
“Participants noted that it would likely be some time until
substantial further progress toward the Committee’s maximum-
employment and price-stability goals would be realized,”
according to minutes from the March 16-17 Federal Open Market
Committee meeting published Wednesday.
U.S. central bankers left their asset purchase program of
$120 billion per month unchanged at the meeting and forecast
they would keep the benchmark lending rate near zero until at
least 2023. That was despite sharply upgrading their forecasts
for growth this year amid rising confidence and a fresh round of
fiscal stimulus.
In explanation, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters
after the meeting that the economy was “a long way” from maximum
employment and sustainable 2% inflation. He also said “it is
likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be
achieved,” in a reference to the threshold that officials have
set for scaling back their asset purchases.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net
Alister Bull
https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/QR5LH3T1UM0W