(Feb 18): An effort launched by the Trump administration to improve home borrowing costs is not coming to much so far, meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Jan 27-28 meeting, released on Wednesday, said. The biggest driver of lower mortgage rates has been the Fed’s easing in the cost of short-term credit, which saw officials lower their interest rate target by three quarters of a percentage point last year, to between 3.5% and 3.75%. The Fed is currently on hold as it seeks evidence inflation is coming down, amid market expectations of more cuts this year. The meeting minutes also noted that the New York Fed official said that recent changes to standing repo operations, which help the Fed manage its interest rate target, had made the lending tool more attractive to financial institutions. The minutes also said that large-scale purchases of Treasury bills aimed at bolstering reserve levels ahead of the mid-April tax date were proceeding according to plan.

Source: The Edge Markets February 19, 2026 01:32 UTC