Federal Reserve officials are probably engineering a third roundof large-scale asset purchases, while they are unlikely to announcea decision today, according to economists in a Bloomberg Newssurvey.

Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed say Chairman Ben S.Bernanke will embark on a third round of quantitative easing, orQE3, with a plurality of 36 percent predicting the move in thefirst quarter of next year, according to the poll of 42 economistsfrom Oct. 26-31.

“We are becoming increasingly persuaded that QE3 is coming, thistime focused on purchases of mortgage-backed securities,” said DanaSaporta, U.S. economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “The bestguess is at this meeting they'll try to build some consensus aroundthe idea and lay the groundwork for eventual purchases.”

Fed officials are weighing further easing even after economicgrowth last quarter accelerated to the fastest pace in a year. ViceChairman Janet Yellen and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans saidin speeches last month that more action may be needed to reduce anunemployment rate stuck around 9 percent or higher for 30 months.Governor Daniel Tarullo said the Fed should consider buying housingdebt to lower mortgage rates and spur growth.

Three regional bank presidents have dissented against two easingsteps since August, posing the strongest opposition among policymakers since 1992. Bernanke hasn't publicly said whether hebelieves a third-round of asset purchases is necessary. In a speechlast month in Boston, he said the Federal Open Market Committee isexploring ways to better communicate its goals, including throughits forecasts and policy statement.

The FOMC plans to release a policy statement at 12:30 p.m. inWashington after a two-day meeting. The FOMC forecasts will bereleased at 2 p.m., and Bernanke is scheduled to hold a pressconference beginning at 2:15 p.m.

Sixty-three percent of economists say Fed officials will firstalter their communication strategy by clarifying how they alignpolicy with inflation and unemployment rates. Some 42 percentbelieve the Fed will announce its intentions to hold interest ratesnear zero until certain levels of inflation and unemployment arereached, an idea proposed by Evans.

The central bank should ease until unemployment reaches 7.5percent, so long as inflation in the medium-term doesn't breach 3percent, Evans said.

Twenty-one percent of economists say the Fed, in changing itsapproach to communications, will first set explicit long-runtargets for inflation and unemployment, though not necessarily as acondition for zero interest rates. Twenty-four percent say the Fedwill start out by announcing an explicit target for inflationonly.

“A new communication device would help people understand whenand how policy would return back to normal, and it would helpexplain how policy might have to be even more accommodative in theshort term,” said Michael Dueker, chief economist for RussellInvestments North America in Seattle.

The FOMC said after its September meeting that it saw“significant downside risks” to the U.S. economy from strains inglobal financial markets. The economy strengthened in the thirdquarter of 2011, growing at an annual rate of 2.5 percent, comparedwith 0.4 percent in the first quarter and 1.3 percent in thesecond.

Companies added 110,000 jobs in October, Roseland, NewJersey-based ADP Employer Services said today. The median forecastof economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of100,000.

Treasuries extended losses and stock futures held gains afterthe report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose five basispoints, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.04 percent at 8:32 a.m. inNew York. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index expiringin December rose 0.5 percent to 1,230.50.

A Labor Department report on Nov. 4 may show that nonfarmpayrolls increased by 95,000 jobs last month, down from a gain of103,000 in September, according to another Bloomberg survey. Theunemployment rate probably stayed at 9.1 percent.

The S&P 500 has dropped 5.2 percent in the past two tradingdays on concern that a Greece referendum pledged by Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou may threaten Europe's bailout.

The European fiscal crisis claimed one U.S. firm, MF GlobalHoldings Ltd., the holding company for the broker-dealer run byformer Goldman Sachs Group Inc. co-chairman Jon Corzine. Thecompany filed for bankruptcy Oct. 31 after making bets on Europeansovereign debt.

“If there's a blow-up in Europe, that would be the impetus theFed needs to move,” said Ellen Zentner, senior U.S. economist atNomura Securities in New York, in a phone interview. Action wouldprobably be targeted to the housing market, she said.

“The Fed has known that housing is the root of all evil for theeconomy, and we're finally getting acknowledgment of that” shesaid, with the Obama administration's announcement last month itwould expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program. The so-calledHARP aims at helping homeowners with Fannie Mae or Freddie Macmortgages and little or no equity in their properties.

The FOMC's previous two statements drew opposition from CharlesPlosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, along with NarayanaKocherlakota of Minneapolis and Richard Fisher of Dallas. Theregional Fed chiefs objected to the central bank's pledge in Augustto hold its target rate near zero through at least mid-2013, and toits September commitment to replace $400 billion of short-termTreasuries with the same amount of longer- term bonds in a bid topush down borrowing costs.

Asked if monetary policy was appropriate given the outlook forthe economy, 48 percent of economists said it was too easy,compared with 26 percent who said it was too tight. Another 26percent said it was “just right.”

Still, the Fed should signal the need for more stimulus byadopting a target for nominal gross domestic product, former WhiteHouse economist Christina Romer said in a New York Times editorialpublished on Oct. 30. Romer is also a contributing editor atBloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief economist Jan Hatziusalso supported such a move in an Oct. 15 note to clients.

Bloomberg