The Fed is clearly looking to offset the market impact from any decision to wind down its asset purchases by strengthening its commitment to leave its policy rate at near-zero for several more years...

The key takeaway from the minutes of the late October FOMC meeting is that, despite the government shutdown, the Fed was still open to tapering its monthly asset purchases at the mid-December meeting.

The annual growth rate of our M3* measure of broad money remained at just under 6% in October. In contrast, the growth rates of the narrower M1 and M2 aggregates continue to trend lower.

The recent decline in gasoline prices has prompted speculation that it could provide a very timely boost to real income and spending. Gasoline prices normally decline at this time of year, however, so...