The week ahead

The big event of the week is the meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) where it is expected that they will formally announce the end of the third round of the quantitative easing bond program, also known as QE3.  The stimulus has been wound down at a rate of $10 billion a month since the beginning of the year and has gone exactly as planned until recent weeks after calls for it to be extended. The committee will also give their assessment of the economy.  US GDP will be announced on Thursday, estimated to be +3%.  German inflation figures, also Thursday, are expected to be weak with -0.1% fall  from last month.