Woolnough: The Fed needs to hurry up and end QE

M&G Investments' top performing fixed income manager Richard Woolnough has called on the Federal Reserve to end its quantitative easing programme earlier than the market expects.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that the Federal Reserve will soon begin reining in its loose monetary policy, after chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may slow the rate of its bond purchases in a few months' time. The 'tapering off' of the Fed's QE programme, while conditional on further improvements in the unemployment rate and wider economy, is now expected to commence towards the end of this year. Woolnough, manager of the £14.5bn M&G Optimal Income fund, said he would have already turned off the QE printed press, as US economic growth is continuing to surpass e...