It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Taper

It increasingly appears that tapering is coming at the Fed's meeting next week.

While forecasting the central bank's moves has been an uncertain proposition for most of the past several monthsâ??with the conventional wisdom having it wrong in June and Septemberâ??several of the Fed's own financial tests for reducing its asset purchases look to have been met as it heads into the Dec. 17 meeting. Those include confidence in the outlook, an easing of fiscal drag and uncertainty, and what the Fed sees as more appropriate interest rates.