Fed is open to changing its plan to calm repo markets if necessary, top staffer says

The Federal Reserve is open to making adjustments to its program put in place last month to curb volatility in short-term lending markets that flared in mid-September, said Lorie Logan, senior vice president at the New York Fed, on Monday. The Fed has started to buy $60 billion per month of Treasury bills to boost its balance sheet and this is going smoothly so far, Logan said, in a speech to primary dealers. The Fed expects to be able to maintain the current pace of T-bill purchases "for some time," she added. But the Fed "is prepared to adjust the pace and other parameters as needed," she said. The Fed is also willing to increase the size of repo operations going into year-end, just as it did to keep rates stable over October's month-end. "We will monitor conditions closely and will be prepared to adapt open market operations as needed," Logan said. In October, overnight and term repo operations together resulted in a daily average of around $190 billion in total repos outstanding.

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