M&G: Why the Fed could spring a taper surprise this week

All bets are off on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering, and investors should therefore prepare themselves for a taper as early as this week, said M&G's Anthony Doyle.

Doyle, part of the group's Bond Vigilantes team, said while the consensus is the Federal Reserve will not move to scale back its asset purchase programme, the central bank may yet surprise investors. "The Federal Open Market Committee took markets and economists by surprise in September this year when the committee members decided to hold off from tapering and maintain its bond buying programme at $85bn per month," he said. "Three months down the road, and the consensus for the December meeting outcome is that the Fed will not reduce the pace of MBS or treasury purchases. Consensus ha...