Wall Street Journal (07/09/14) Jon Hilsenrath; Pedro Nicolaci da Costa

At the June U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting, Fed officials agreed to end their bond-buying program in October, reducing bond purchases in increments at the next three policy meetings. However, the Fed still faces tough decisions about the timing and pace of interest-rate increases in the coming months, with Fed chairman Janet Yellen wanting to avoid disruptions in the recovery. Most officials at the June meeting indicated they expect the first rate hike will come in 2015.

Since the bond-buying program began, the unemployment rate has fallen from 7.8% in September 2012 to 6.1% in June 2014, but official measures of inflation have consistently been below the Fed’s target of 2.0%.