According to the regular Reuters poll of Federal Reserve Primary Dealers (conducted Friday Sept. 6 after the release of the NFP results):
- 13 of 18 dealers expect the Fed to announce a ‘taper’ of bond purchases after the September 17-18 FOMC meeting
- This compares to the poll in August, in which 9 expected a September taper, and the July poll which showed 11
- The median forecast for the extent of the taper is a reduction of $15bn per month from purchases
- This compares to a median reduction forecast of $18bn in August and $20bn in July
- 11 of the 18 expect the cuts to be split evenly between treasuries and MBS (mortgage-backed securities), 6 expect larrger cuts in treasuries, 1 says larger cut to MBS
I haven’t seen a web link for the survey results yet (I got the info direct from Reuters), when I do I’ll post it.