The Federal Reserve is likely to start a new round of bond buying whether or not the U.S. economy continues to show signs of strength, according to Morgan Stanley’s Gregory Peters.

“We think QE3 in the U.S. isn’t data-dependent,” Peters, the New York-based bank’s global head of fixed-income research, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan,” referring to a third round of quantitative easing.

The central bank has purchased $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of bond buying known as QE1 and QE2 as it seeks to encourage investment in the world’s biggest economy. The Fed is likely to buy Treasuries and mortgage bonds in the next round of easing, Peters said.

The European Central Bank may also begin a bond-buying program, Peters said. “There’s a full-blown credit crunch in Europe,” he said.