Insight - Investors looking for clarity

The Fed, which concluded its two day Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting on Wednesday, appeared to make progress in that discussion, though there was no clear timetable. “The Fed opened the door to tapering but they didn’t pin themselves into it,” said Scott Kimball, co-head of US Fixed Income at BMO Global Asset Management.

INVESTORS looking for clear guidelines on when the Federal Reserve (Fed) will begin tapering its massive bond purchases were left waiting, with all eyes next on the annual Jackson Hole conference of central bankers in August.

The central bank has been buying US$120bil (RM507bil) in fixed income assets per month - US$80bil (RM338bil) in Treasuries and US$40bil (RM169bil) in mortgage-backed securities - to support the economy as it recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and markets have been fixated on when the Fed will start tapering.Powell said in June that there had been initial discussions about when to pull back.