While U.S. voters cast ballots on Tuesday in an election expected to shift Congress to the right, the Federal Reserve convenes what could be its most pivotal meeting since the height of the financial crisis.

U.S. election, Fed maneuvers and monthly jobs data highlight busy week for the economy.

U.S. election, Fed maneuvers and monthly jobs data highlight busy week for the economy.

Investor’s Calendar Fed to Meet on Unemployment and Inflation Unemployment and inflation are expected to be the focus of the Federal Reserve’s meeting. The Fed is likely to announce a program of bond purchases worth a few hundred billion dollars over several months.

Many investors are expecting too much from this week’s FOMC meeting.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to resume buying large amounts of Treasurys in an effort to shake the economy out of lethargic slow growth state. A rough consensus has formed around $500 billion purchases over six months.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to resume buying large amounts of Treasurys in an effort to shake the economy out of lethargic slow growth state. A rough consensus has formed around $500 billion purchases over six months.

Should the government hire people to bury banknotes down disused mine shafts, thus stimulating the private sector to dig them up again? Keynes argued that there were circumstances in which even government spending as wasteful as this could be economically worthwhile, and ever since he did, people have been tying themselves in knots about how fiscal stimulus actually works.

The Fed may now be wishing it had never mentioned quantitative easing, or virtually guaranteed markets a large program of easing, the extent of which it will announce after its FOMC meeting next Wednesday.