Fed minutes downplay impact of Trump mortgage buying on housing affordability

By Michael S. Derby Feb 18 (Reuters) - 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 January 27-28 meeting, released on Wednesday, said. The minutes, describing a briefing ‌by the New York Fed official responsible for implementing monetary policy, noted that plans by the administration to buy mortgage bonds ​had caused “a notable decline in mortgage-backed securities yields relative to those on comp ...