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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Nearly a decade after the Federal Reserve embarked on an unprecedented effort to shore up the collapsing American economy, the central bank said on Wednesday that it would begin withdrawing some of the trillions of dollars it invested in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The decision, while widely expected, is nevertheless a significant sign that the Fed is confident that economic growth and low unemployment will continue. In other words, the central bank believes that the American economy has emerged safely from the crisis. “The basic message here is U.S. economic performance has been good,” Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s chairwoman, said at a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Fed’s policy committee. The Fed’s retreat from its post-crisis stimulus campaign will be slow but steady as the central bank looks to shrink the enormous $4 trillion portfolio it amassed through a bond-buying spree. Those efforts, known as quantitative easing, plunged the Fed into uncharted waters as it tried to navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Fed came under stiff criticism for the program, prompting many Republican lawmakers to question whether the Fed should remain independent. The Fed, which stopped its buying spree in 2014, is now preparing to pare back its holdings by about $10 billion per month initially. That is likely to raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, but only very slowly. Indeed, since the Fed ... Link to the full article to read more