The Federal Reserve is likely to announce Wednesday that it will begin steadily reducing its bond-buying program, the biggest step the central bank has taken toward reversing its pandemic-era stimulus.
The decision to wind down, or taper, those purchases this month has been so heavily telegraphed by Fed officials that the focus of the two-day meeting that ends Wednesday has shifted toward how they will characterize inflation risks—which carries important implications for how soon they might raise interest rates.
