The Federal Reserve has decided to reduce its stimulus for the U.S. economy because the job market has shown steady improvement. The Fed will trim its $85 billion a month in bond purchases by $10 billion starting in January.
But most economists think that when the Fed's latest policy meeting ends Wednesday, it will announce that it's maintaining its pace of $85 billion a month in bond purchases.
President Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the nation's central bank, the White House said Tuesday. Yellen would be the first woman to head the powerful Fed.
Investors plowed money into stocks and bonds, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching record highs, after the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to keep its economic stimulus in place.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is expected to take its first step toward reducing the extraordinary stimulus it's supplied to help the U.S. economy rebound from its deepest crisis since the Great Depression.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the bank would consider reducing its stimulus program if the economy improves, but emphasized that the reductions were “by no means on a preset course.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank is in no hurry to stop supporting the economy because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed’s target.
Financial markets have been gyrating in the 3½ weeks since Bernanke told Congress the Fed might scale back its effort to keep long-term rates at record lows within "the next few meetings"— earlier than many had assumed.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a local lunch crowd that he expects the economy to keep growing, but he said the growth is so slow that it could create a "permanent group" of underemployed Americans.
In a speech in Indianapolis, Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a sharp defense Monday of the Federal Reserve's bold policies to stimulate the weak economy, while cautioning Congress to respect its private discussions.
The chairman of the Federal Reserve is scheduled to speak at the Economic Club of Indiana’s Oct. 1 meeting, an event that should put Indianapolis in the national spotlight given the Fed’s recent and controversial decision to try to stimulate the economy.
The Federal Reserve this week took steps to boost economic growth. But those stimulus measures are also pushing oil prices up. If gas prices follow, consumers will have less money to spend elsewhere.
Economic growth is pitiful. So why are the major stock indexes just a few percentage points shy of an all-time record? Start with two words: Ben Bernanke.
The Federal Reserve unleashed a series of bold and open-ended steps Thursday designed to stimulate the economy by boosting the stock market and making it cheaper for people to borrow and spend. Stocks surged after the announcement.
The Employment Act of 1946 essentially required the Federal Reserve to do two mutually exclusive things: promote full employment and keep inflation low.
Demographics, technology will reward winning institutions.
The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will likely keep interest rates at record lows for the next two years after acknowledging that the economy is weaker than it had thought and faces increasing risks.
As much as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would like to think he can pull in the reins at the right moment, the beast of inflation is difficult to control.
Inflation is a sinister sort of tax that confiscates wealth. Bonds will lose value in an inflationary environment as interest rates rise.
The debate over whether we even need a central bank—which is what the Fed is today—began shortly after the founding of our country.
