Global investors are on hold, waiting for comments from the Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee on when the central bank will wind down its monthly $85 billion purchases of mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke roiled markets earlier this month when he suggested that a tightening of current monetary policies could start before the end of the year. The Fed has also kept short-term interest rates near zero to buoy the economic recovery and Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) officials are unlikely to raise rates until the unemployment levels hits 6.5% (the national jobless rate was 7.6% in May).

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FOMC members said they were “prepared to increase or reduce the pace of its purchases to maintain appropriate policy accommodation as the outlook for the labor market or inflation changes. In determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, the Committee will

The waiting is the hardest part.

But soon financial markets may know a little bit more about Fed monetary policy than they know right now. At 2pm eastern time, the Fed will release its latest statement on policy followed by its latest forecast for the economy. Then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will host a news conference which could potentially provide more insight into Fed policy.

The financial markets will be listening for anything Bernanke says or the Fed statement suggests about when the Fed will start to taper its $85 billion monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage securities.

Former White House budget director David Stockman tells The Daily Ticker, “I don’t think there’s any consensus or keen understanding about how they back out of this, how fast they do it, how they communicate it.”

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Stockman says the Fed’s asset purchases, known as quantitative easing (or QE), and near zero interest rates policy is wrong-headed.

“We