Fed Minutes Show Taper May Be Coming Early Next Year

(RTTNews) - The Federal Reserve debated whether to mark a calendar date to end its massive bond-buying plan, according to minutes from the October meeting released Wednesday.

At that meeting, the Fed kept its $85 billion per month plan in place.

The press release accompanying that decision gave practically no indication that the central bank will begin scaling back the asset purchases anytime soon, but today's minutes suggest policy makers are crafting an exit plan.

"Many members" of the Federal Open Market Committee "stressed the data-dependent nature of the current asset purchase program, and some pointed out that, if economic conditions warranted, the committee could decide to slow the pace of purchases at one of its next few meetings," the minutes read.