The Federal Reserve is "quickly likely" to begin to slow down the pace of its $85 billion a-month asset purchase program "starting later this year," said Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed Bank, on Tuesday. The economic fundamentals "are actually really better" and growth in the second half of the year should accelerate to a 2.5% annual growth rate, he said. Evans said he could not predict exactly at which meeting the Fed would start to taper. "We need stronger evidence of accelerating growth, a little more momentum," he said. "We're not far from that," he added. Under his forecast, the Fed could wind ... (full story)