Tomorrow, Wall Street expects the Federal Reserve to announce the first reduction in the pace of monthly bond purchases it makes under the quantitative easing program (QE3) it introduced in September 2012. Right now, the Fed is buying $85 billion in Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities each month. The consensus on the Street is that the Fed's FOMC monetary policymaking apparatus will elect to reduce that amount by $10 billion going forward. The FOMC says its decision to taper is contingent upon improvements in the health of the labor market, yet the data have been disappointing in recent months. The U.S. economy ... (full story)