With the Fed’s key rates all ready at a rock bottom 0-0.25%, no one anticipates rates to be lowered.  Any reaction will be from the release of their announcement which is anytime. 

Dan Green, one of my favorite mortgage bloggers, is documenting the impact of today’s Fed announcement to mortgage rates via Twitter.   Check it out.

I’ll update this post in a few moments with my two cents following the FOMC announcement.

Update 11:20 am.  

The Fed leaves the Funds Rate unchanged stating that “the economy has weakened furthe”r since their last meeting in  December.   They also reaffirmed their committment to continue buying mortgage backed securities:

“The Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability. The focus of the Committee’s policy is to support the functioning of financial markets and stimulate the economy through open market operations and other measures that are likely to keep the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet at a high level. The Federal Reserve continues to purchase large quantities of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities to provide support to the mortgage and housing markets, and it stands ready to expand the quantity of such purchases and the duration of the purchase program as conditions warrant.”

Click here for today’s FOMC Statement and be sure to follow Dan Green’s reporting on the reaction of mortgage backed securities.