Fed Seen Forgoing New Bond Buying Program Until September

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will probably forgo announcing a third round of large-scale asset purchases this week, and is more likely to wait until September to unveil plans to buy $600 billion in housing and government debt, according to median estimates of economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Eighty-eight percent of economists say the Federal Open Market Committee will refrain from starting new purchases at a two-day meeting that began today in Washington. Forty-eight percent say the FOMC will announce the buying at its Sept. 12-13 meeting, according to the July 25-27 survey of 58 economists.