Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged to take further action to “promote the continuation of the economic recovery,” admitting that growth has not been as good as the Federal Reserve had hoped for in earlier efforts to battle the recession.
The stock market has been volatile recently as fears grow that the U.S. could be headed for a “double-dip” recession.
“The Federal Reserve is already supporting the economic recovery by maintaining an extraordinarily accommodative monetary policy, using multiple tools. Should further action prove necessary, policy options are available to provide additional stimulus. The committee will certainly use its tools as needed to maintain price stability – avoiding excessive inflation or further disinflation,”
Bernanke said during his speech, “The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy,” which he gave at the Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers in Wyoming.
Bernanke conceded that unemployment remains “too high,” but his remarks that policy makers still have options to assist the economy was enough to help spark a jump in stock prices on Wall Street.
With some important economic indicators coming in worse than expected, such as the housing market, some economists think the Federal Reserve might engage in additional quantitative easing in which it infuses more cash into the financial system by purchasing assets like government bonds from banks and the commercial sector, The Guardian reports.
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