After five years and trillions of dollars, the Federal Reserve this week announced that it will begin scaling down its purchase of bonds and securities. The Fed began the practice – commonly known as “quantitative easing” or “QE” (or, for the non-financial types among us, essentially “printing money”) – in 2008 in hopes of stimulating the economy. Nearly $3 trillion later, the Fed says that beginning in January, it will cut its monthly purchase of Treasury bonds from $45 billion to $40 billion and its monthly purchase of mortgage-backed securities from $40 billion to $35 billion. While this is a promising announcement, the Fed also noted that future cuts are “not on a preset course.”

That’s too bad, because not only has QE failed to deliver the stimulus promised but it’s also become more problematic itself. Indeed, as one investment manager ominously noted, “The Fed is running out of stuff to buy.” While the announcement is a welcome one, we’ve heard promises before. Come January, we’ll see if the Fed makes good on its word or if QE cuts prove nothing more than an empty New Year’s resolution.