Fed officials in no hurry to sell mortgage assets, minutes say

Federal Reserve policy makers last month said they were in no rush to sell $1.1trn of mortgage-backed securities, with a majority preferring to wait until after the central bank starts raising interest rates. “Most participants favored deferring asset sales for some time,” while others wanted to announce a schedule or start sales soon, the Fed said in minutes of its April 27-28 meeting in Washington, released today. Officials lowered their projections for inflation, excluding food and fuel, while keeping forecasts little changed for economic growth and unemployment in 2011 and 2012.