The New York Fed said it will start buying agency mortgage-backed securities on Friday, at a rate that is expected to total $23 billion over the remainder of September. It will then purchase securities at a clip of $40 billion each month. The New York Fed said it will concentrate its purchases in newly-issued agency MBS in the to-be-announced market, although it may purchase other agency MBS if market conditions warrant
In addition to bond purchases, the Fed said it intends to keep the benchmark short-term interest rate, the federal funds rate, at nearly zero until mid-2015. The prior guidance on the first rate increase had been late 2014.