Central Bank

WASHINGTON -- The economy added a modest 94,000 jobs last month, the government said yesterday in a mixed employment report that only slightly eased fears of a recession. The national unemployment rate remained steady at 4.7 percent despite job losses in the construction, financial services and factory sectors. Private job creation was tepid at 60,000 as federal, state and local governments increased payrolls by 34,000. Many economists said the report was reassuring in light of strong bearish sentiment expressed by many in the financial markets.

Global markets staggered yesterday as a French bank triggered a worldwide financial scare by halting withdrawals from investment funds that have lost money on high-risk U.S. mortgage securities. The central banks of major economies, including the United States, responded by pumping tens of billions of dollars into their banking systems in an effort to shore up investors' confidence. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 387.18 points, or 2.8 percent, to 13,270.68, its largest one-day point loss since February.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will seek to assure the world today that the central bank will keep the U.S. economy afloat during a severe credit crunch. The Fed chairman, who is scheduled to speak in Jackson Hole, Wyo., before the annual Federal Reserve conference, faces a challenging job steering the economy through rough waters at a critical point in the U.S. recovery amid doubts about his leadership as a crisis manager. A worried financial market is virtually demanding an interest-rate reduction Sept.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan offered the House Banking Committee the same optimistic outlook he gave the Senate: The Fed's best guess is the U.S. economy will continue to expand at a robust pace with no evidence of inflation.Still, the Fed chairman said policy-makers are struggling with a global economy that's not following historical road maps. Economies around the world have slowed, yet the United States is booming -- and has no inflation."What we do is to endeavor to understand how the world at large is impacting on us. And that's becoming ever increasingly more complex," Greenspan said.

Federal Reserve policy-makers left a key interest rate unchanged yesterday, but said they were poised to raise rates again should the tight U.S. labor market ignite inflation -- a statement that startled investors and prompted many economists to predict that the central bank would raise rates at its Nov. 16 meeting.Stocks were whipsawed by investors who had hoped the central bank was finished raising rates. After spiking higher by more than 100 points, the Dow Jones industrial average dived immediately after the 2: 12 p.m. Fed announcement -- descending as much as 124 points into minus territory -- before rebounding to close at 10,400.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Board policy-makers signaled yesterday that they are prepared to raise U.S. interest rates if economic growth does not slow and inflation accelerates -- even as they left the overnight bank loan rate unchanged at 4.75 percent.The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced that it adopted a bias toward higher borrowing costs, saying it is "concerned about the potential for a buildup of inflationary imbalances that could undermine the favorable performance of the economy."

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve policy-makers won't hesitate to raise interest rates again if the economy doesn't slow and inflation shows signs of accelerating, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan suggested yesterday.The Fed is prepared "to act promptly and forcefully" to increase borrowing costs to sustain an expansion that's on track to become the longest in U.S. history, Greenspan said in his twice-yearly testimony to Congress."Should productivity fail to continue to accelerate and demand growth persist or strengthen, the economy could overheat," Greenspan told the House Banking Committee.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve policy-makers might raise interest rates again because the U.S. economy could be growing too quickly, raising the risk that inflation is likely to accelerate, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday in the second of his semiannual reports on the economy and monetary policy.Greenspan, however, offered little elaboration on his warning -- identical to one he gave the House Banking Committee last week -- because senators were more interested in dragging the central bank head into an argument over tax policy.

WASHINGTON -- Employers hired new workers at a surprisingly robust pace last month and had to pay substantially more to find them, the government reported yesterday.While good news in most respects, the report underscored the mounting pressures in the labor market and substantially increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its next meeting, on Aug. 24, as insurance against an inflationary spiral in wages and prices.The unemployment rate in July remained steady at 4.3 percent, the Labor Department said.

THE PRICE of gold tumbled to 20-year lows last week, with Britain failing to attract high bids as it began auctioning half of its reserves. The metal, traditionally a haven for investors in times of turmoil, was selling at about $256 per troy ounce, a far cry from its peak of $875 an ounce in 1980. Why are investors shunning gold? Will the price of gold go lower, or is this a good time to buy?David WallackNatural resource analyst and portfolio manager, T. Rowe Price, BaltimoreThe rate of inflation has been declining for the better part of the past 20 years.

WASHINGTON - -With the recession easing, the Federal Reserve reached a new milestone Wednesday after two years of unprecedented intervention in the economy: It began the pullback. The central bank said that in October it will wind down a program to purchase U.S. government bonds, a first step in what could be a multiyear high-wire act. The Fed wants to remove its supports for the economy soon enough to prevent inflation but not so soon that the fragile recovery is quashed. After a two-day meeting, Fed policymakers pointed Wednesday to evidence that "economic activity is leveling out."

WASHINGTON -The Federal Reserve said yesterday that it will deploy an additional $1.2 trillion to try to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy, an aggressive move aimed at containing the recession. The central bank will increase its purchases of mortgage-backed securities by $750 billion, on top of a previously announced $500 billion. It also will double its purchases of debt in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $200 billion. Those steps are intended to lower mortgage rates - analysts expect the rates will fall 0.25 to 0.50 percentage points as soon as today.

Safeway stores offering some antibiotics free Safeway Inc. yesterday became the latest area grocer to offer some prescription antibiotics for free. The program, which covers up to a 14-day supply of nine generic antibiotics, is in affect until March 31. Safeway is among grocers around the country offering the antibiotics program in an attempt to lure customers. Giant Food and Wegmans Food Markets Inc. also offer free antibiotics. Andrea K. Walker 10 tech companies get $750,000 from TEDCO The Maryland Technology Development Corp.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate yesterday to a record low as part of its continuing battle against the financial crisis and the recession. The central bank cut its target for the federal funds rate - the rate paid by banks to other banks for overnight loans - from 1 percent to a range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent. The Fed indicated that the rate would stay low for some time. The reduction was bigger than expected and sent the stock market up sharply.

The Federal Reserve is expected to take steps today aimed at persuading banks that have received more than $250 billion in bailout funds to begin recycling more of that money back into the economy. But the signs are not hopeful. Economists expect the central bank to lower the cost of borrowing money from the government overnight by at least a half-percentage point to just 0.5 percent. But the Fed has reduced this rate time and again, from 4.25 percent to 1 percent since September 2007, and still the recession deepens.

WASHINGTON - In the largest single financial intervention in the nation's history and a measure of the depths of America's financial crisis, the Federal Reserve will lend insurance giant American International Group Inc. $85 billion to finance the company's liquidation over the next two years, people familiar with the decision said last night. The loan represents an abrupt turnaround for the Fed, which as late as Monday night indicated that the nation's big investment banks would provide emergency financing for AIG and as recently as last weekend appeared to be signaling an end to government rescues of private firms by allowing Lehman Bros.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve is poised to aggressively lower interest rates again today, perhaps by as much as 1 percentage point, as it continues its efforts to ease a major credit crunch and serve as a virtual safety net for Wall Street investment bankers. With fear gripping Wall Street, the Fed is trying to stave off a repeat of the collapse of investment banking giant Bear Stearns Cos., which prompted an emergency rate cut Sunday and the move to help arrange a deal to sell the well-known firm to JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the rock-bottom price of $2 a share.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve, for all its power, faces tough new limits on its ability to keep the economy out of a recession. Even though the Fed slashed short-term interest rates twice in January, home mortgage rates have edged up steadily in the past few weeks and credit for businesses is as tight as it was when financial markets seized up in August. Yesterday, the central bank, led by Ben S. Bernanke, found itself facing hints of a problem the United States has not seen in decades: stagflation, the mix of slumping growth, sharp spikes in oil and food prices and a rising pace of overall inflation.

WASHINGTON -- Armed with new evidence indicating that U.S. economic growth virtually stalled late last year, the Federal Reserve announced yesterday another half-point cut to a key lending rate in a bid to keep the economy out of recession. The Fed reduced its benchmark federal funds rate - the overnight rate that banks charge each other - to 3 percent. In just eight days, the central bank chopped its benchmark rate by 1.25 percentage points, emphasizing its concerns that the U.S. economy is going into a near stall.

WASHINGTON -- In a joint move with European central banks to ease the grip of a dangerous credit crunch, the Federal Reserve unveiled a new plan yesterday to pump billions of dollars into tightfisted U.S. banks so they will be more willing to lend to people, businesses and each other. Sharply criticized by Wall Street on Tuesday for a modest interest rate cut that critics labeled as too timid, the nation's central bank announced the biggest concentrated injection of funds into the economy since the Sept.