11:01 Just read at @ino: .
Bernanke: “Uneven” U.S. Recovery Requires Fed Support
The U.S. economy is on the mend, but conditions have not improved enough for the Federal Reserve to scale back support measures, the nation’s top central banker told Congress on Wednesday. Bernanke offered no hints of a change to the Fed’s conditional pledge to keep interest rates near zero through late 2014, nor did he signal that another round of asset purchases is imminent.
He warned of lingering weakness in the jobs market, and downplayed figures showing the U.S. economy unexpectedly grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the final quarter of 2011. “The recovery of the U.S. economy continues, but the pace of expansion has been uneven and modest by historical standards,” Bernanke told the House Committee on Financial Services.
The nation’s unemployment rate hovered around 9 percent for much of last year but has moved down appreciably since September, reaching 8.3 percent in January.
Written by Gary