FOMC announced that it will only purchase about $175 billion of agency debt , slightly less than the $200 billion it previously announced.  It continues to anticipate that “economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period”, an expectation it has repeated in every release since March.  Fed now says household spending “ appears to be expanding”, a more optimistic outlook than the path Fed members saw in September.  The Fed also repeated its assumption that economic activity will “likely remain weak for a time” and that stimulus measures combined with market forces will contribute to a gradual resumption of growth.  Lastly, the Fed continues to see inflation as remaining “subdued for some time”.

Stocks came off but now have rallied back to being up 120 points or so, along with mtg backs now down a couple of ticks.  The market has reached a balanced condition near the center of the range at around the 117-28 level.  The location still suggests that the market does not have strong directional bias at this time and I don’t think we will get a strong move until Friday’s Employment release.