Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke left the door open to a fresh shot of monetary stimulus should the economic rebound he’s predicting fail to materialize.
The Fed would be “prepared to take additional action, obviously, if conditions warranted,” including the purchase of more Treasury securities, Bernanke said yesterday after U.S. central bankers met in Washington. The economy will probably overcome constraints from elevated energy prices and Japan- related disruptions to manufacturing, he said. Still, declining home prices, high unemployment and weaknesses in the financial system may restrain the recovery in the longer term, he said.
Policy makers in a statement yesterday acknowledged the slowdown even as they agreed to complete $600 billion in bond- buying as scheduled this month in the second round of so-called quantitative easing. While the outlook for employment and inflation is better than before the latest bond purchases, Bernanke said he’s not sure how long the economic headwinds will persist. Stocks fell in New York trading.....read on
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