The Federal Reserve said it will ease policy further if necessary to boost the weakening expansion and reduce unemployment.
The Federal Open Market Committee “will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability,” it said Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting in Washington. “Economic activity decelerated somewhat over the first half of this year.”
Before their next meeting starts Sept. 12, Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues will assess reports on unemployment in July and August, and the European Central Bank may take steps to ease Europe’s debt crisis at a meeting today. “They were as blunt as you can get without actually pulling the trigger,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York.
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