AS WAS widely expected, the Federal Reserve decided to again leave the fed funds rate unchanged at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that concluded on May 1, with members voting to maintain the target rate range at 5.25 to 5.50 per cent.
However, the central bank did tweak monetary policy through reducing the balance sheet runoff (or quantitative tightening) from US$95 billion per month to US$60 billion. Agency mortgage-backed securities will continue to run off at US$35 billion per...