The Fed’s balance sheet, mentioned by Jerome Powell this week, tracks what the Fed owns and owes. And the Fed has stopped its buying spree, mostly to reduce its influence on the market.

The central bank chief hinted at the potential monetary policy shift as ongoing job market weakness and the federal shutdown risk a "more challenging" environment.

Several participants at the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting said it was important to continue monitoring money-market conditions and evaluate how close bank reserves are to their “ample” level,

Ending the balance-sheet runoff would represent a form of monetary-policy easing — or, at least, a reduction of tightening — since the central bank would stop draining liquidity from the financial system. In his remarks on Tuesday, Powell said the Fed may be approaching the end "in coming months."

McGraw Hill (NYSE:MH) announced on Thursday that it has successfully strengthened its balance sheet with a $150M prepayment of principal under its outstanding term loan facility.  Following the latest paydown,