WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve expects to start slowing its bond-buying program this year just before it might need to manage another major transition that could spook investors: the likely exit of Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke is expected to step down in January. By then, financial markets will likely be absorbing a pullback in the Fed's bond purchases, which helped push long-term interest rates to record lows. Bernanke said last week that the Fed expects to slow its bond-buying later this year — and end it next year — if it thinks the economy can manage without it.
Bernanke hasn't said he'll leave in January, when his second term ends. But he's widely expected to step down then. Among several possible successors, most Fed watchers think the leading candidate is Vice Chair Janet Yellen.
As chairman, Yellen would likely aim to carry on Bernanke's policies. Even so, economists say a shift in leadership at such a delicate time might rattle investors.
"We know for sure now that Bernanke is a lame duck," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University. "The leadership change at the Fed will add to the uncertainty in the markets at a time when the Fed is trying to navigate the transition from easy money to a less accommodative stance."
Even before he leaves, the expectation that Bernanke has just a few months left as chairman could raise doubts about his policies, even though Yellen would be expected to push the same policies.
Investors' panicky response since Bernanke said the Fed will likely slow its stimulus later this year — if the economy is sturdy enough then — showed what could go wrong if a leadership transition is poorly managed.
The possible overlap between a Fed pullback in bond purchases and a new chairman "will compound the uncertainty and possible market volatility," said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.
