The Federal Reserve plans to shrink the balance sheet by $95 billion a month, minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting revealed (pdf). Minutes released on Wednesday show that Committee members “generally agreed” on a cap of $60 billion in Treasury securities and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities that would be cut from the balance sheet. The central bank plans to phase this in over three months. Fed officials averred that trimming the balance sheet would emphasize the institution’s firm stance on monetary policy, noting that it would be appropriate to initiate this campaign at a future meeting, possibly as early as the May meeting. Many participants note that they would have preferred a 50-basis-point rate hike in the target range for the benchmark fed funds rate. They also stated that they would like to see at least one half-point increase at future meetings, particularly if …