Fed officials divided over when to sell mortgage securities; concerns raised about Europe

Fed officials divided over timing of asset sales

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials were divided over when the Fed should start shedding some of its vast portfolio of mortgage securities.

Minutes of the Fed’s April meeting show Fed officials expressed wide-ranging views about when and how the Fed should go about selling some of the $1.25 trillion of mortgage securities bought during the crisis.

Most Fed officials preferred strategies that would “eventually” lead to the sale of mortgage securities to shrink the Fed’s $2.3 trillion balance sheet. But they differed on the timing and the details.

Separately, some officials worried the European debt crisis could shake Wall Street and possibly slow the U.S. recovery.