Journal Article

A Monetarist View of the Fed’s Balance Sheet Normalization Period


Abstract: The Federal Reserve currently holds over $4 trillion in fixed-income assets. However, since the fall of 2017 the Fed has been in a ?balance sheet normalization period,? during which the size of its balance sheet is gradually shrinking over time. In particular, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has been instructing the Federal Reserve trading desk to reduce its security holdings by reinvesting principal payments only to the extent that these payments exceed gradually raising caps. These caps on redemptions will be maintained until the Fed considers that its balance sheet has reached a desirable size.

Keywords: Interest rates; monetary policy; System Open Market Account (SOMA);

https://doi.org/10.21033/ep-2018-2

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Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Part of Series: Economic Perspectives

Publication Date: 2018

Issue: 2

Pages: 2-14