Citing Growth, Fed Again Cuts Monthly Bond Purchases At the New York Stock Exchange and elsewhere, the stock markets greeted the Fed's decision with declines in the major indexes. Richard Drew/Associated Press WASHINGTON - In its final major decision under the leadership of Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would continue to slowly dismantle its stimulus campaign, citing "growing underlying strength in the broader economy." The Fed's policy-making committee voted unanimously to pare monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion - its first unanimous vote since 2011 - despite lingering concerns about the health of the United States economy and growing signs that the Fed's retreat is causing problems in emerging markets including Turkey. The decision reflected the optimism of Fed officials that the domestic economy is finally poised for faster growth after years of false starts and setbacks. It allows Mr. Bernanke, the Fed chairman since 2006, who once hoped to oversee the end of the stimulus campaign, to step down Friday having at least directed the first steps. Looking ahead, Mr. Bernanke also leaves a clear road map pointing toward an end of the Fed's bond purchases in October or December. His successor, Janet L. Yellen, has supported that plan as the Fed's vice chairwoman. She is likely to give the first indication of her own views when she testifies before Congress next month. Stock indexes fell Wednesday as the Fed's retreat rippled through global markets, driving money toward less risky investments like Treasury securities. The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 1 percent to close at 1,774.20, while the price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit a two-month high. The Fed's retreat is producing a global shift in investment patterns as investors who chased higher returns in foreign markets are beginning to anticipate the return of higher interest rates in the United States. That is causing problems in countries like Turkey that depend heavily on foreign investment. In Turkey, the central bank tried to bolster that nation's currency Tuesday by sharply raising the benchmark rate, but the Turkish lira and other currencies of emerging markets - including that of South Africa, which also raised interest rates - continued to slump Wednesday. Fed officials, focused on the health of the American economy, are unlikely to adjust policy in response to the foreign turmoil unless they see stronger evidence that it is a threat to the domestic economy. "In the end of the day, we live in a modern, global financial system and this is, I think, just part of the world that we live in, in terms of monetary policy in the United States having effects outside the United States," John C. Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said recently at the Brookings Institution. The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's policy-making body, made no mention of emerging markets in its statement Wednesday. "The clear Fed default position is that tapering will continue," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. It would take serious U.S. weakness or a real emerging market disaster to make the F.O.M.C. pause. Indeed, the turmoil may make it easier for the Fed to retreat. Investors seeking to limit their risks are bidding up the price of Treasury bonds, counteracting the effect of the Fed's gradual reduction in the volume of its own purchases. Problems in Turkey, in other words, help to hold down interest rates in Omaha. Some investors, and Fed officials, also view the turbulence as the unavoidable price of a necessary reduction in the central bank's role in financial markets - particularly in the bond purchases, which are known collectively as quantitative easing. "We applaud the continuing removal of QE - even in the face of weaker economic data and higher market volatility," wrote Rick Rieder, a fixed-income investment manager at BlackRock. We believe the program has outlived its usefulness. The Fed expanded its holdings of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities by $85 billion each month in 2013 in an effort to spur job creation and drive down unemployment. In December the Fed announced that it would cut the volume to $75 billion in January. It said Wednesday that it would further reduce the volume of purchases to $65 billion in February: $30 billion of mortgage bonds, $35 billion of Treasuries. It also said it was "likely" to continue the retreat, setting the table for another $10 billion cut at the next meeting of the Fed's policy committee in March. The Fed did not change its guidance that it intends to keep short-term interest rates near zero "well past the time" that the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent. The unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in December. The question of what to say next about interest rates - rather than how quickly to taper bond buying - is likely to be the first significant challenge of Ms. Yellen's tenure. "It will take a pretty big data surprise to knock the Fed off its course of a $10 billion per meeting reduction in asset purchases," Michael Feroli, chief United States economist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote Wednesday. This should make Yellen's job a little easier - if we don't get any big data surprises - but still leaves open the question of how forward guidance will evolve as unemployment continues to move lower. Mr. Bernanke and other Fed officials have expressed growing optimism about the economic outlook for 2014, citing the combination of a strengthening private sector and the absence of fresh cuts in government spending. Wednesday's statement said that growth "picked up in recent quarters," citing strength in household spending and business investment. The government's initial estimate of lower-than-expected job growth in December, released in early January, did not appear to shift the views of Fed officials. Analysts expect figures to show that the American economy grew at a relatively strong annualized rate of 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter; the figures are set to be released on Thursday. Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said this month that in conversations with business executives he was hearing "a better mood than I've heard before." He added: "Another thing I'm hearing is that the fourth quarter was pretty good; December was stronger than people expected." Despite the signs of an improving American economy, though, investors remain on edge about prospects here and in the rest of the world. The Dow Jones industrial average fell an even greater amount than the S.&P. 500, down 189.77 points, or 1.2 percent, to 15,738.79. The Nasdaq composite dropped 46.53 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,051.43. In the bond market, interest rates fell. The yield on the Treasury's 10-year note dropped to 2.68 percent, from 2.75 percent late Tuesday, while its price rose 21/32, to 100 20/32. On Thursday, Asian stock markets also declined, with the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo falling about 3 percent in early trading. The Fed also said Wednesday that it would expand an experimental program intended to help the central bank control the risk of inflation if the economy begins to grow more quickly. The Fed has authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to strike deals with banks called reverse repurchase agreements, which are intended to tie up money that might otherwise be used for loans. The authority was extended through 2014, and the per-deal maximum was increased to $5 billion. It was a quiet end for Mr. Bernanke, who after failing to foresee the financial crisis led the Fed's widely praised efforts to contain the damage, and then its more tentative campaign to help restore the flow of economic activity. The Fed did not observe the occasion publicly. It is likely that Mr. Bernanke's colleagues paid tribute during the meeting, but the Fed will not release a transcript for five years. The praise that Fed officials lavished on his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, upon his retirement in 2006, was not disclosed until 2011. By then, of course, Mr. Greenspan's legacy had come to be seen in a very different light.