Recent comments by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke sparked debate that QE might end soon
Minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting say officials want more evidence of recovery in the jobs market before winding up its stimulus program.
The minutes show that "about half" of the Fed's board felt the $85bn-a-month stimulus program could be phased out by the end 2013.
Speculation that the Fed might halt quantitative easing (QE) with a couple of months had unnerved Wall Street.
But the news that there would be no immediate exit sent US markets higher.
"Several members judged that a reduction in asset purchases would likely soon be warranted," the minutes released on Wednesday said.
But the minutes added that "many members indicated that further improvement in the outlook for the labor market would be required before it would be appropriate to slow the pace of asset purchases".
In addition, most of the Fed's board said it should stick to its ultra-low interest rate policy through to the end of 2015. However, four members thought the benchmark rate could be increased this year or next year.
Since late last year, each month the Fed has been buying $85bn in Treasury and mortgage bonds.
The purchases have kept interest rates low, with the aim of encouraging more Americans to buy homes and cars, and hopefully bolster economic growth.
Investors worry that once the Fed starts scaling back its bond buying, interest rates would rise.
In afternoon trading, after the minutes for the meeting in June were released, the Dow Jones and S&P began moving higher.
Kim Rupert, a managing director at Action Economics, said it was now more unclear when the Fed might run down its easy money program.
"Most (analysts) had expected September might be a good starting point. This throws a lot more doubt on that timeframe."
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23263579#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
