The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to provide details on the implementation of the next step in what so far has been an orderly gradual multiyear normalization of unconventional policies, a process that has confounded many who saw the May 2013 "taper tantrum" as a precursor to the unsettling volatility to come. Here is how to think about the what and the why, and their potential implications for what’s ahead. At the end of its two-day Open Market Committee meeting, the Fed is likely to provide operational specifics on the measured and conditional reduction of its $4.5 trillion balance sheet -- namely, ... (full story)