The Federal Reserve ended its do-little policy on Thursday, pledging to keep interest rates near zero and announcing an open-ended commitment to buy bonds and possibly take other steps to push the economy into motion.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

The New York Times:

The Fed said that it would add $23 billion of mortgage bonds to its portfolio by the end of September and then announce its plans for October as part of a new process that aims to prioritize the Fed’s economic objectives.

The Fed also said, in a statement following a meeting of its policy-making committee, that it now expects to hold short-term interest rates near zero until at least mid-2015, extending the forecast it made in January by about half a year.

The statement said that the economy had continued to expand “at a moderate pace,” but that the Fed had concluded “growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions.”

Read more

Rock Solid Journalism

In 2026, amid chaos and the nonstop flurry of headlines, Truthdig remains independent, fact-based and focused on exposing what power tries to hide.

Support Independent Journalism.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG