The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the policy-setting arm of the Federal Reserve Board, left its policy options open for 2012 but took no actions Tuesday and offered an assessment of the economy that was guardedly more upbeat, but still marked by "significant downside risks."
Nine out of 10 Fed officials voted to keep the central bank's easy-credit policies unchanged for the second meeting in a row in what was the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year. It took place on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's 58th birthday.
Officials reiterated that short-term interest rates are likely to stay close to zero until mid-2013 at least. In their assessment of the economy, they said indicators pointed to some improvement in the U.S. jobs market.
Data since the FOMC last met at the start of November suggest the "economy has been expanding moderately, notwithstanding some apparent slowing in global growth," Fed officials said in a statement.
Gold, which settled at a seven-month low, traded lower in electronic trading after the Fed statement. Gold for February delivery recently sold at $1,653.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the Nymex, down 0.6% from Tuesday's settlement. Gold had held near steady earlier Tuesday, with investors focused on Europe's debt crisis as a series of successful sovereign-debt auctions partly offset worries about potential credit-rating downgrades....read on
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