Cranbury Forum | Bulletin | Info Sharing

Post a reply

Username

Subject

Message body

Emoticons

Font colour: Font size:

Close Tags

[quote="USA TODAY"]Bernanke: Economic outlook remains 'uncertain'

By Sue Kirchhoff, USA TODAY

The outlook for the U.S. economy remains "uncertain," as investors have yet to fully regain confidence in the credit markets, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday, adding that the central bank is watching the situation closely and is prepared to "act as needed."

In a speech to the New York Economic Club, Bernanke also said the troubled housing market is likely to be a "significant drag" on growth through early 2008. He added that it's too early to tell how much crucial business and consumer spending could be affected by problems in the financial and mortgage sectors.

"Conditions in financial markets have shown some improvement since the worst of the storm in mid-August, but a full recovery of market functioning is likely to take time, and we may well see some setbacks," Bernanke said.

The central banker said that investors are reassessing risks and have not yet "fully regained confidence" in their ability to set prices for some securities.

"The ultimate implications of financial developments for the cost and availability of credit, and thus for the broader economy, remain uncertain," Bernanke said.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: US economy | Fed | Federal Reserve Chairman | US Federal Reserve System | Bernanke

"For now, the Federal Reserve will continue to watch the situation closely and will act as needed" to support efficient markets and meet the Fed mandate of sustainable growth and tame inflation.

The Fed chairman noted that despite recent increases in the price of oil and other commodities, the "limited data" available show moderate increases in overall prices. Crude oil prices set a record Monday, closing above $86 a barrel.

Financial markets in the USA and abroad have been reeling from a severe credit crunch that hit in late summer. The credit meltdown was initially sparked by concerns about the soundness of bonds backed by higher-cost subprime mortgages, but has since spread to a range of sophisticated financial products.
...
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-10-15-bernanke-speech_N.htm[/quote]

Options
HTML is ON
BBCode is ON
Smilies are ON

	Disable HTML in this post
	Disable BBCode in this post
	Disable Smilies in this post