Financial markets “are very well prepared” for the Federal Reserve to start tapering its massive asset-purchase program in the fall, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said, adding he’d want it to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022. “They’ve been expecting it, and they don’t really think asset purchases are that effective in this environment,” he said in an online event on Friday. Markets “are very much ready for the taper to go ahead this fall,” Bullard said. “I wouldn’t want to shock markets or anything but get the paper finished. I would have a target of finishing by the end of the first ... (full story)