The Federal Open Market Committee released its November 2011 meeting minutes, revealing a Fed split on whether new stimulus is needed for the U.S. economy.

The Fed Minutes is published 8 times annually, three weeks after each scheduled Federal Open Market Committee meeting. It’s the official record of the meeting’s policy-shaping debates and dialogues.

The Fed Minutes is the lengthier companion piece to the FOMC’s more well-known, post-meeting press release.

As compared to press release which is concise and focused at 492 words, the Fed Minutes is comprehensive and broad, totalling 7,682 words over 11 pages, complete with charts.

The November minutes reveal Fed opinions on a variety of economic issues :

• On employment : Unemployment will gradually decline through 2014
• On housing : The market remains depressed. Foreclosures are “holding back” growth.
• On rates : The Fed Funds Rate should remain low until mid-2013

There was also discussion about the government’s revamped HARP program, and how it should help more homeowners get access to low mortgage rates. The Fed sees this as a positive for housing, and for the economy.

There was little in November’s Fed Minutes to surprise Wall Street, however, the Fed did discuss the possibility of new market stimulus, a topic Wall Street expects the FOMC to address next week at its last scheduled meeting of 2011.

Should the Fed introduce new market stimulus next week, and should it arrive in the form of additional mortgage bond purchases, expect for mortgage rates to fall nationwide. If the Fed declines new stimulus, mortgage rates should rise.

The FOMC meets Tuesday, December 13, 2012.