The Fed is in early stages of a campaign to prepare markets for tapering its asset purchases

The Federal Reserve is in the early stages of a campaign to ready markets for reducing its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases to stimulate the economy.

Comments by Fed officials in the past several weeks suggest the issue of tapering looks likely to be discussed as soon as next week’s meeting, and the Fed may be on track to begin asset reductions later this year or early next year.

At least five Fed officials have publicly commented on the likelihood of those discussions in recent weeks, including Patrick Harker,...