Bernanke sticks to his guns as panic hits deal pipelines

Market participants who had been tempted to think that the priorities of the chairman of the US Federal Reserve should extend no further than their own interests got a rough wake-up call on Wednesday. Ben Bernanke not only reiterated his suggestion of May 22 that the country might consider a gradual reduction of its asset purchase programme, but also predicted a possible ending of QE altogether as early as the first half of 2014.