FOMC minutes: Fed officials weigh shrinking balance sheet by $95 bn a month

Federal Reserve officials 'generally agreed' last month to trim $60 bn per month from the US central bank's Treasury holdings and $35 bn from its holdings of mortgage-backed securities

The Federal Reserve signaled it will reduce its massive bond holdings at a maximum pace of $95 billion a month, further tightening credit across the economy as the central bank raises interest rates to cool the hottest inflation in four decades.

Minutes of their March meeting released Wednesay also showed that “many” officials would have preferred to raise rates by a half perentage point -- instead of the quarter-point move they made -- but decided not too in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The maximum total, composed of $60 billion in Treasuries and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities, compares