The US Federal Reserve yesterday said the world’s largest economy is still expanding at a moderate pace, suggesting a slowing of asset purchases in December or January is still a possibility.
The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee made no changes to policy at its October meeting, keeping its asset purchases steady at $85bn a month, but the statement implied it did not see a lot of damage from the government shutdown earlier this month.
Although markets have assumed the Fed will not “taper” its asset purchases until March, the statement implied it could still slow the programme earlier than that – perhaps as early as its December meeting – if the economic data justified it.