Will worsening economic conditions and the war in Iraq bring about monetary easing?

"THE Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee meets on Tuesday March 18th. The Fed has already slashed its key interest rate from 5.25% to 3% since last September. A further reduction of at least half a percentage point is expected after next week's meeting, in response to fresh signs of fragility in the American economy and the worsening state of global financial markets.

THE fifth anniversary of war in Iraq comes around on Thursday March 20th. Last year's "surge" of American troops, along with help from Sunni tribes and a truce from the most troublesome Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, has damped down violence. Even so American voters remain mostly eager to quit the country. And Iraqis continue to make only sporadic political progress on such matters as rehabilitating supporters of the previous regime and sharing power between regions."