On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to keep interest rates near-zero for a “considerable time,” but the Fed also indicated it could raise borrowing costs faster than expected.  In a statement after a two-day meeting of its policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed announced a further $10 billion reduction in its monthly bond purchases, leaving the program on course to be shuttered next month.  The Fed also released a new blueprint for how it plans to exit the extraordinary monetary stimulus it put in place to combat the 2007-09 financial crisis and recession.