In what may well be his last appearance before Congress as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke this week indicated the central bank’s much-debated “tapering” of its massive asset purchase program is likely to begin later this year and then cease altogether by the middle of 2014, assuming the U.S. economy progresses as the Fed anticipates. At the same time, the Fed chief emphasized the Federal Open Market Committee will continue to be flexible in responding to market and economic conditions, all based on the flow of data coming into the committee. Bernanke said the FOMC has made...