Signaling confidence in a recovery, the Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to stretch out the pace of a program intended to lower mortgage rates and prop up the housing market.
Even so, rates on home loans are expected to remain low.
With the economy on the mend, the Fed said it now plans to reach its goal of buying $1.45 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and debt by the end of March, rather than by the end of this year as originally scheduled. It’s the second time since August that the Fed has opted to slow emergency programs designed to encourage spending and boost the economy.
Those decisions show that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are shifting from managing the financial and economic crises to nurturing a budding recovery.
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