Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will likely acknowledge the US central bank is actively considering another round of monetary easing in his keynote Jackson Hole speech on Friday.

But the Fed chief could disappoint fidgety financial markets if he stops short of signaling another bond-buying program is imminent, which many analysts say is a strong possibility.

“We have had low expectations for significant news,” said Vincent Reinhart, an economist at Morgan Stanley and a former top staffer at the Fed.

For one thing, minutes of the Fed’s last meeting were already very strongly worded in the direction of further stimulus. Indeed, that report suggested a high bar for the Fed not to embark on a fresh stimulus push, with many policymakers wanting to see “a substantial and sustainable strengthening” of the economic recovery to stay on hold.

Speaking on the sidelines ahead of the Fed’s annual monetary policy symposium, Julia Coronado, economist at BNP Paribas, said data hinting at a bit of strengthening in the economy can hardly be said to meet that standard. She expects a solid easing signal from Bernanke’s speech.

It would be difficult for Bernanke to be any firmer than the minutes without actively pre-empting the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, a step the chairman may be loath to take.

“We do not think Bernanke is inclined to front-run the committee less than two weeks ahead of the next meeting,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan.

Any lack of concrete detail on the likely course of action could disappoint global stock markets, which have risen in recent weeks on expectations of more central bank intervention from both the Fed and the European Central Bank.

Economic uncertainty in Europe is rising “massively” as growth prospects worsen, especially for debt-strapped southern euro zone members, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said.

Nowotny told reporters late on Thursday he could not reveal the latest ECB forecasts for growth in the euro zone before their official release.

“But I can say this much: there will not be an improvement, but rather a deterioration in expectations,” he said, noting the divergence in growth rates between northern and southern members was widening.

“We have to expect negative growth rates, contraction, in practically all the southern countries in 2012, and France roughly stagnation. That means uncertainty is thus growing massively,” he said.

“I think it is important in such a sensitive situation that one assumes that one takes every step in monetary or economic policy with great caution.”

Nowotny, also head of the Austrian National Bank, confirmed the central bank’s forecast that the Austrian economy would grow 0.9% in 2012 as stagnation in the second half follows two good quarters earlier in the year.

He declined to discuss details of the revamped bond-buying programme that ECB President Mario Draghi has announced or to talk about monetary policy ahead of an ECB meeting on September 6.

Markets view the ECB as the only European body with the firepower to tackle fully a debt crisis that has crippled Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and threatens Spain and Italy.

At the meeting next week, Draghi is expected to reveal the ECB’s terms for intervening in the bond market to help ailing euro zone members, reconciling an unwilling German Bundesbank to the plan while avoiding conditions that will scupper its effectiveness.

Nowotny sought to play down any differences on the ECB’s Governing Council, which groups heads of national central banks.

“There is complete agreement in the ECB Council – and especially between the Austrian National Bank and Bundesbank – in regard to the absolute necessity and primacy of price stability. There can be differences in matters of details but the basic orientation is one that we absolutely share,” he said.

Inflation was not an issue now.

“In Austria as in all of Europe I see no indication of demand-linked inflation. With these low growth rates it can be ruled out,” he said.

Nowotny noted that struggling euro zone countries were making progress on structural reforms but this would take time, which meant they needed some help for the time being.

“All these protective and support measures we have cannot be permanent but they have to last long enough so that positive structural change can really be implemented, and of course pressure is to be maintained so that this painful process continues,” he said.

He stressed it was crucial to get the euro zone’s European Stability Mechanism permanent bailout fund up and running as quickly as possible. He reiterated that the idea of giving the ESM a banking licence had pros and cons but would not elaborate.

India’s economy grew at a higher-than-expected 5.5% in the quarter ending in June, against analysts’ forecasts o f 5.3%, government data showed on Friday.

The manufacturing sector grew an annual 0.2% during the quarter, while farm output rose 2.9%, the data showed. In the quarter ending in March, economic growth was at 5.3%.

Economic growth in Asia’s third largest economy slipped to 6.5% in 2011-12 fiscal year ending in March from an annual rate of 8.4% in the two previous fiscal years.