Punch bowl to stay on table after Fed meeting Central bank to maintain easy policy despite improved

08/10/2009 • Market Watch

Even though some Federal Reserve officials and market participants want the party to end, the central bank is going to keep the punch bowl full after its two-day meeting this week, analysts said. Former Fed Chairman William McChesney Martin once famously quipped that the Fed's primary role was to take the punch bowl away before a party really starts cooking. But it's important not to take away the spirits too soon. "Although some hawks want to take the punch bowl off the table, I don't think they will convince [Fed chief Ben] Bernanke," said David Jones, a veteran Fed watcher. Bernanke, a student of the Great Depression, knows that the Fed made a mistake of tightening too soon during the late 1930s, thereby prolonging the downturn, Jones said. "That is something Bernanke is going to avoid," Jones said. Even though the market is more and more convinced that growth is just over the horizon and worries about inflation abound, the economic outlook has