FOMC little change

Federal Open Market Committee notes said that economic activity has picked up since the group’s September meeting, but certainly not enough for the Fed to do anything about it. The FOMC said it will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent, and will purchase a total of $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and about $175 billion of agency debt. The amount of agency debt purchases, while somewhat less than the previously announced maximum of $200 billion, is consistent with the recent path of purchases and reflects the limited availability of agency debt.