RJ and Makay

It may not be necessary to complete the second round of quantitative easing (QE2), the Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond-buying program aimed at stimulating the U.S. economy, suggests St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard. “The economy is looking pretty good,” he explains. "It's still reasonable to review QE2 at coming meetings, especially this April, and see if we want to finish the program or stop a little bit short."

However, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has given no indication the central bank will deviate from its plan to buy bonds through June to spur economic growth and reduce unemployment. In two days of congressional testimony earlier this month, Bernanke said that while growth will accelerate in 2011, he still wants to see a sustained period of stronger job creation before curtailing economic stimulus.

Oil prices are skyrocketing, stocks are plummeting, and Japan is enduring one of the worst nuclear disasters since Chernobyl. But the U.S. Federal Reserve remains steadfast.

Indeed, later today the Fed is expected to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy even though there's rising concern about the effect of oil prices and Japan's tragedy on the still-fragile economy. And economists are generally on board. It's best for the Fed to do nothing until we fully understand the impact of these latest events, economists assert.

A large majority of economists — 62% — think the Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond-purchase program, also known as quantitative easing, is helping to support U.S. growth. The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) reported that finding recently after surveying 263 of its members.

Of the survey respondents, 21.8% thought quantitative easing was having no impact and 15.8% said it was harmful. When asked about the level of monetary stimulus, slightly more than half said it's just right and 41% described it as too stimulative.