Top officials of the Federal Reserve are leaning strongly toward a third round of bond buying by the Fed, known colloquially as QE3, according to the minutes of the Aug. 1 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

 

Here’s the money quote from the FOMC minutes: “Many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery.” Read our full news coverage of the minutes.

 

The economic data have stabilized since Aug. 1, but it’s not at all clear that the improvement in the economic data has been “substantial” enough to forestall further action by the Fed.