Fed’s Powell says balance sheet rundown will proceed without change for now

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that he sees no reason to change the current drawdown of the central bank's still-massive balance sheet. While shrinking Fed holdings may have a small impact on real world borrowing costs, "I think it’s hard to make a case that reserves are even close to scarce at this point." Powell spoke on the state of the central bank's holdings of cash and bonds after a meeting in which officials again held their overnight interest rate target range steady at between 5.25% and 5.5%, the same level it's been since the end of July.