Minutes of November FOMC minutes noted that the asset purchases will continue “over coming months”. At the same time, “most participants judged that the Committee should update this guidance at some point and implement qualitative outcome-based guidance that links the horizon over which the Committee anticipates it would be conducting asset purchases to economic conditions. ”
However, “a few participants were hesitant to make changes in the near term to the guidance for asset purchases and pointed to considerable uncertainty about the economic outlook and the appropriate use of balance sheet policies given that uncertainty.”
On adjusting the asset purchases to provide more accommodation if needed, it could be done by increasing the pace of purchases or by shifting its Treasury purchases to those with a longer maturity without increasing the size of its purchases.” Or alternative, more accommodation could be done “by conducting purchases of the same pace and composition over a longer horizon.”
