Fed's Hoenig: Mortgage Debt Buys Should End in March - Bloomberg

Fed's Hoenig: Mortgage Debt Buys Should End in March - Bloomberg

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said the central bank should end its purchases of mortgage debt as planned in March because the private market for the securities is "healing," Bloomberg News reported on its Web site Monday. Hoenig said last week's Labor Department report of 85,000 U.S. jobs lost in December doesn't change his outlook for a "modest" and "persistent" recovery, with growth of 3% to 3.5% this year. The central bank should consider raising its target rate for overnight interbank lending from a record low even with unemployment at 10%, he said. U.S. central bankers debated increasing and extending asset purchases should the economy weaken, said Bloomberg, citing minutes from the Fed's Dec. 15-16 meeting. The central bankers pledged to complete $1.25 trillion in purchases of mortgage securities and $175 billion of agency debt by March, while holding the benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25% for an extended period.

Full story at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afiqqaIqRxok

-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900

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