SINGAPORE - So the long awaited Federal Reserve Jackson Hole gathering has come and gone without causing major calamity to financial markets.

At the closely watched symposium last Friday, chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the Fed taper - the pullback on the massive bond-buying programmes unleashed last year - will come before the year end. But he said interest rate hikes are not imminent as there is still "much ground to cover" before the United States economy hits full employment.