The word Wall St .can't stop saying: taper

The Fed is pumping $85 billion into the economy each month, but it can't last forever. Christine Romans explains 'the taper'.

市場最關注的美聯儲利率會議塵埃落定，美聯儲在為期兩天的聯邦公開市場委員會會議結束后發布會議決議，宣布將堅持每月購買850億美元債券的計劃，即在收購450億美元長期國債的同時收購400億美元的抵押貸款擔保證券，同時，聯邦基金利率水平則一如預計繼續保持在0-0.25%的超低水平。

美聯儲主席伯南克會后表示，美聯儲預計在結束購買資產和升息之間會有相當長的一段時間，在利率方面，他認為，失業率降至6.5%不會自動引發升息，上調短期利率為時尚早，即使開始上調利率，也是逐步的。伯南克還表示，絕大多數美聯儲成員預計美聯儲在政策正常化進程中不會出售抵押貸款支持證券，他指出樓市、州及地方政府已經從拖累經濟轉變為支撐經濟增長。

Hollywood has It girls. Wall Street has It words.

You’ve gotta stop with the bond buying and start to taper.

'Taper' is the latest It word on Wall Street.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is tonight’s top-10 list.

It won’t make Letterman’s top-10 list.

The taper?

The taper?

Yes.

About which, I don’t know.

It was the politics?

So what is a taper?

It’s not a zoo animal (tapir), or a CNN anchor, or a way to wear your jeans (tapered leg). It’s Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s toughest job yet. How does he taper down from historic stimulus? It’s likely the final challenge for this chief.

He’s already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to.

And he’s done what no Fed chief has done before. Basically, he’s holding a fire hose, spraying $85 billion a month straight into the economy. It can’t go on forever, and the obsession on Wall Street over when it will end is probably the most important driver of your 401K right now. Taper, as unlikely Wall Street lingo(方言；行話；隱語), joins a list that includes quantitative easing, fiscal cliff, sequester. Remember 'tarp'? Sometimes the jargon sounds Greek(晦澀難懂的) to the rest of us.

Speaking of Greece, austerity is the word on the street there, the opposite of Bernanke’s actions. If he were a little rascal, he’d be this guy, throwing money from the window. The dilemma for the Fed: Take away the treadding wheels too soon and the economy could crash. But fail to taper, and this economy may not take flight on its own.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.