Federal Reserve, Interest Rate | featured news

They’ve tried dumping $2 trillion in cash into the financial system, slashed overnight interest rates to zero and made an unprecedented promise to keep rates low for at least another two years.

Federal Reserve officials issued a more favorable assessment of the economy but refrained from taking any new action to add to or pull back from their latest campaign to spur growth.

The Federal Reserve extended the time it expects to see “exceptionally low” short-term interest rates from the middle of 2013.

The Federal Reserve will begin later this month to publish a forecast of its own actions, inaugurating a policy that is intended to magnify the power of those actions by shaping the expectations of investors.

The Federal Reserve, facing rising global financial strains and recession fears, is poised to increase downward pressure on longer-term interest rates next week in a bid to accelerate a sputtering U.S. recovery.

The Federal Reserve Board has promised to keep interest rates at zero until 2013-- an admission that the economy is not expected to rebound for two years-- until the next President is in the White House. This policy step indicates the Fed does not believe the economy will recover either this year or next year. Never before has the central bank made such a policy declaration for as long a period as two years.

Stocks resumed their downward slide in early trading Wednesday as investors retreated from the initial optimism that greeted the Federal Reserve's decision the day before to keep interest rates low.

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.

The recent surge in oil prices is no prelude to broader price increases that would force the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, two top Fed officials said on Thursday.

Unemployment is likely to stay high for a long time, two Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday, suggesting the U.S. central bank is in no rush to raise its ultra-low interest-rate policy.