Short-handed Fed sticking to the tapering plan

The two-day FOMC meeting that concludes next Wednesday (30th April) is likely to be a quiet affair for two reasons: The Fed made key changes to its forward guidance at the last meeting in mid-March. The upcoming meeting is also likely to be one of the most sparsely attended in years. Sticking to its previous tapering plan, we expect the Fed to reduce its monthly asset purchases by a further $10bn, to $45bn per month. We still anticipate that the first rate hike will be in June 2015.