Most recently, after the September FOMC meeting, we announced that the Federal Reserve would purchase additional agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and continue with the  9  This projection is the alternative fiscal scenario in a CBO report from August of this year. See Congressional Budget Office (2012), An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022 (Washington: CBO, August).
6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  program to extend the maturity of our Treasury holdings.10 These additional asset purchases should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and make broader financial conditions more accommodative.11 Moreover, our purchases of MBS, by bringing down mortgage rates, provide support directly to housing and thereby help mitigate some of the headwinds facing that sector.