WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve is poised to end its bond buying stimulus program early to prepare to combat inflation with interest rate increases. Here is a look at the key dates in the so-called quantitative easing (QE) program:

• November 2008: At the height of the global financial crisis, and after cutting the benchmark interest rate to zero, the Federal Reserve announces it will buy debt held by government-sponsored mortgage lenders, as well as mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

• March 2009: The Fed expands QE to included purchases of longer-term Treasury debt, and would go on to increase the monthly purchases to $45 billion for Treasuries, and $40 billion for MBS.

• June 2013: Fed Chair Ben Bernanke announced the central bank was prepared to start to reduce its holdings, sparking the "taper tantrum" in financial markets, which delayed the actual taper until December, when QE was slowed by $10 billion a month.

• June 2014: Fed ends QE, halting new asset purchases.

• October 2017: Fed begins "balance sheet normalization" to reduce the size of its securities holdings which had swelled to $4.5 trillion by the end of 2017 from under $900 billion before the crisis.

• March 15, 2020: After the Covid-19 pandemic hits the United States, the Fed cuts interest rates to zero and announces it will restart QE, purchasing Treasuries and MBS, eventually increasing asset purchases to $120 billion a month.

• November 3, 2021: With the economy recovering and inflation picking up speed and hitting a 30-year high, the Fed announces it will reduce the pace of bond purchases by $15 billion a month, meaning QE would end by mid-2022 and open the door for policymakers to consider rate hikes.

• November 30, 2021: Fed Chair Jerome Powell admits high inflation might continue for some time and said it would be appropriate to speed up the taper to end bond purchases "a few months sooner." Fed securities holdings as of December 1 were $8.2 trillion.