Will Fed launch more quantitative easing today?

This afternoon (September 13th), chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Ben Bernanke will round off two days of talks at the central bank by announcing his plans for the world's largest economy with regards to monetary stimulus and interest rates.

According to surveys by Bloomberg and Reuters, the majority of analysts believe Mr Bernanke will embark upon another round of bond-buying after a series of disappointing industrial output, joblessness and economic reports.

Furthermore, investors are preparing for the possibility that the chairman will hold the benchmark interest rate close to zero into the coming year.

Mr Bernanke's term as the head of the Washington DC-based central bank will come to an end in January 2014 and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has announced he will not reinstate the former Princeton University professor due to what he believes have been ineffective policies.

Last night, the Standard & Poor's 500 Cash Index in Chicago closed 0.2 per cent higher to an index value of 1436.5 points, while in New York, the Dow Jones made a modest advance to 13333.3 points and the Nasdaq closed 0.3 per cent higher at 3114.3 points.