The Federal Open Market Committee will continue cutting asset purchases by $10 billion each meeting and bring the QE3 program to an end later this year, according to Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart.
"Absent a marked adverse change in the outlook for the economy, I think it is reasonable to expect a progression of similar moves, with the asset purchase program completely wound down by the fourth quarter of the year," Lockhart said in prepared text of a speech to the Rotary Club of Birmingham, released by the Fed.
Lockhart said he likes the current "very accommodative" positioning of policy.
The economy needs to "substantially" remain on track for the taper to continue apace, he said, and can be altered "if economic conditions change a whole lot."
