Federal Reserve official agreed that current economic and financial conditions "would likely warrant a faster apace of balance sheet runoff than during the period of balance sheet reduction from 2017 to 2019," according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Jan. 25-26 meeting. "Participants observed that, in light of the current high level of the Federal Reserve's securities holdings, a significant reduction in the size of the balance sheet would likely be appropriate," the minutes said. As the Fed statement had said earlier, details of reducing the size of the balance sheet will be determined at upcoming meetings. The committee also appeared to be ready to quicken the pace of removing monetary accommodation if inflation doesn't move down as they expect. All three of the major U.S. stock averages pare their declines, with the S&P 500 hitting breakeven, the Nasdaq reducing its decline to 0.4% and the Dow drop
