Banks, Interest Rate | featured news

The central bank also said it would maintain its program of low-interest lending to euro-zone banks through the end of the year.

The European Commission seized documents from several major banks on Tuesday, marking the intensification of a world-wide law-enforcement probe into how key interest rates are set, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.

The central bank said it would raise benchmark one-year deposit and lending rates by 25 basis points each, a move that reflects its concern about rising domestic asset prices and inflation.

Bernanke detailed the Fed's strategy to tighten credit, indicating the rate paid to banks on excess reserves may for a time replace the fed funds rate as the main policy tool.

Rates can fall to 2%--if you know how to play the game.

The central bank said it would expand its program of purchasing corporate debt and government bonds by $75 billion and kept its key interest rate at 0.5 percent.