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Bupkes is Yiddish for "nothing." Bupkes is also Yiddish for what to expect from the Federal Reserve Wednesday afternoon.

By most accounts, the U.S. central bank is expected to just tweak its language when it releases its policy statement, while continuing its steady pullback in bond-buying stimulus known as quantitative easing, or QE3 to signal the third round.

"The communiqué will state the obvious – that confidence is building and that a better growth and inflation outcome is fast emerging, but there will be no change in forward guidance," Toronto-Dominion Bank economists said in a recent report.

Observers also expect the policy statement to repeat what the minutes of the last Fed meeting showed, that the central bank's bond-buying scheme, which is being cut by $10-billion (U.S.) a month, will end after its October meeting.

"Halloween will mark the end of QE3; let's hope the bond market doesn't get too scared," said deputy chief economist Michael Gregory of BMO Nesbitt Burns.

Views from some economists:

"Other tweaks will likely be found in the statement's economic assessment. The downgrade to 2014 growth expectations owing to the 2.9-per-cent contraction in Q1 real GDP should be acknowledged along with the economy's subsequent rebound (at least for most activity.). Housing, however, is still looking worse for wear, as the turn-of-the-year tightening of mortgage lending stands takes its toll (last month was also the wettest June in 25 years, which didn't help." BMO's Mr. Gregory

"Since the Fed is placing more emphasis on the strengthening of labour market conditions, what happened to GDP in the first half of the year is unlikely to alter the policy picture. The Fed will still announce a further tapering in the pace of its monthly asset purchases, to $25-billion from $35-billion, after the policy meeting ... Another strong rise in payroll employment and a fall in the unemployment rate in July could prompt more speculation that the Fed will start to raise interest rates before next summer. Paul Dales, Capital Economics

"Wednesday's policy statement from the Federal Open Market Committee should be a relatively tame affair and we'll hope it takes less than June's roughly 800 words to accomplish the task ... Look for fewer ways of saying the Fed isn't doing anything just yet ... The Fed might have to signal a bit less optimism on 2014 growth even though another forecast update won't be offered until September. Recall that about a week after the June meeting, Q1 GDP was revised down to –2.9 per cent from –1 per cent previously." Derek Holt, Bank of Nova Scotia

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:29pm EDT.

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Bank of Nova Scotia
+1.21%51.78
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Bank of Nova Scotia
+0.94%70.07

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