Fed minutes show Wall Street again expecting later end of balance sheet wind-down

By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - Financial market participants have pushed out yet again the end date for the effort to shrink the size of the Federal Reserve’s still large balance sheet, central bank meeting minutes released on Wednesday said.

The drawdown of the Fed’s stock of bonds will stop in February when the balance sheet stands at $6.2 trillion, big banks and money funds told the central bank ahead of the June 17-18 rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, the minutes noted.

That represents a small shift from what survey respondents said ahead of the May FOMC, when they eyed a January end date, and $6.125 trillion in total holdings.