Three members of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted against the Fed's latest stimulus measures at its meeting last month, minutes have revealed.
The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to help a fragile economic recovery held back by a weak job market and financial stresses in Europe, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.
Federal Reserve's move last week to further lower borrowing costs was risky and won't significantly speed up a painfully protracted recovery, one of the officials who dissented against the decision said on Thursday.
With three dissenting members the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday further efforts to prop the US economy launching an accommodation program to put more downward pressure on long-term interest rates and increase its support for housing.
The US economy continues to grow slowly, with patches of weaker activity, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in a report used by the central bank in setting monetary policy.
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota signalled he would not attempt to annul the Fed’s commitment to keep interest rates near zero through mid-2013.
US stocks shot 3% higher on Tuesday on speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week could signal new help for the US economy, giving investors hope a four-week rout was nearing an end.
Asian markets rebounded after the US Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates on hold and Wall Street had its best day in two years. The decision by the US central bank to keep rates at current levels until at least 2013 helped stem one of the biggest sell-offs in recent years.
The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday it will keep its hefty monetary policy stimulus for at least another two years, an effort to support a flagging economy and fragile global markets that face considerable selling spree.
The pace of United States economic growth slowed last month in eight of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts, the central bank said Wednesday in the latest edition of its Beige Book report.