Fed wants end to crisis-era measures to be as dull as possible

New York

THE US Federal Reserve is set on Wednesday to announce the start of a plan to trim its US$4.5-trillion portfolio of assets, much of it amassed in response to the 2007-2009 financial collapse, marking another milestone in bringing to an end the crisis-era measures.

If Fed Chair Janet Yellen gets her way, financial markets that had swung wildly with past shifts to the policy will barely shrug when the asset reductio…