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The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering ending its extraordinary bond-buying program later this year.

It might not sound like earth-shattering news, unless you follow the market closely and know that so-called quantitative easing is the foundation on which the American stock market rally has been built over the last few years. No “QE,” no record Wednesday for the S&P 500.

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It also wouldn’t be news if you were one of the more than 100 people — including employees at investment banks like Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., along with congressional staff members and trade groups — that received this market-moving information 19 hours before the public.

[np_storybar title=”New calls to stop Fed stimulus by end of 2013 in prematurely released minutes” link=”http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/10/fed-minutes-stimulus/”]

Several members of the Federal Open Market Committee said the central bank should begin tapering its bond buying program later this year and stop it by year end.