Debt purchases dominate Fed meeting

A new program to stimulate the U.S. economy dominated the Federal Reserve's agenda at its last meeting in September, according to minutes released Tuesday.

The record suggested chairman Ben Bernanke and the other members of the bank's policy-setting committee were nearing a consensus to launch a large-scale program of purchasing of government debt.

The aim would be to lower interest rates and encourage borrowing for consumer spending and business investment.

However, the committee didn't settle on how big the program should be, which securities would be bought or what the schedule for purchases should be.

Many economists have predicted Fed officials will reach an agreement on those terms at their next meeting, on Nov. 2-3.

Public remarks by Fed officials since the Sept. 21 meeting suggest the program will be smaller than the $1.7 trillion US one it launched during the recession.

Under that, the Fed purchased a mix of mortgage securities and government debt.

The effort was credited with forcing down mortgages rates and providing support to the crippled housing market.

The minutes also showed the Fed concluded that the economy was growing slower than it had expected.

While Fed officials didn't see it slipping back into a recession, they worried the economy had become vulnerable to "potential negative shocks."

They expressed concerns that unemployment, which has been at 9.6 per cent for the past months, would stay elevated.