Federal Reserve | featured news

Rates on fixed mortgages dropped to their lowest levels in decades this week after the Federal Reserve unveiled a massive bond-buying program to help spur economic growth.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's new $600 billion program to aid the economy on Saturday, rejecting concerns that it will spur runaway inflation.

The Federal Reserve wanted to push interest rates lower and jump-start financial markets with its $600 billion economic stimulus plan. So far the Fed is getting the results it wants.

The Federal Reserve escalated its efforts to get the U.S. economic recovery back on track Wednesday, again entering the realm of risky and untested policy in response to the worst downturn in generations.

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a controversial new policy on Wednesday to buy billions of dollars in government bonds in an attempt to breathe new life into the struggling U.S. economy.

Investors are awaiting the outcome of the midterm elections and the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting amid speculation over stimulus programs.

The Federal Reserve looks set to embark on a hotly debated second round of monetary easing next week, but much uncertainty surrounds the scope and pace of bond purchases by the U.S. central bank.

The Federal Reserve chairman says the review is 'seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures.'

The simple truth is that Obama and the Democratic Congress were dealt a lousy economic hand, and they've played it about as well as anyone could. Along with their predecessors and the holdovers at the Federal Reserve, they prevented a collapse of the global financial system and a 1930s-like depression. But given the magnitude of the financial crisis and the global imbalances that gave rise to it, a prolonged period of slow growth and high unemployment was almost inevitable.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Friday laid out a case for the central bank to take further action to bolster growth, citing the risks of prolonged high unemployment and a U.S. economy slipping into a deflationary spiral.