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US Fed promises stimulus to help slowing recovery
AFP - 51 minutes ago
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - – The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday promised more stimulus spending to prop up an economic recovery it said had slowed in recent months.
Maintaining interest rates at historic lows in the face of slow growth and high joblessness, the Fed vowed to renew crisis-era investments that pump cash into the economy.
"The pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed in recent months," members of the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement, downgrading their assessment of the health of the world's largest economy.
"The pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated," the 10-member committee said.
Full text: Fed statement
In a sign of how seriously the slowdown is being taken, the Fed promised to maintain crisis measures, which until recently had appeared to be coming to an end.
The Federal Reserve said it would now reinvest cash from maturing mortgage bonds rather than shrinking its two-trillion-dollar portfolio, essentially resuming crisis-era spending.
"The shift in policy reflects an unambiguous downshift in the Fed's assessment of both the current state of the economy," said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics.
The bank battled the financial crisis by buying up US debt, mortgage-backed securities and other financial products to lubricate markets.
"To help support the economic recovery in a context of price stability, the committee will keep constant the Federal Reserve's holdings of securities at their current level," the FOMC said.
It said it would plow the proceeds from maturing mortgage-backed securities into long-term US debt.
In early August, the Fed held around 1.2 trillion dollars in mortgage-backed securities.
"Prior to this new directive from the FOMC, the balance sheet was set to shrink by as much as 200 billions dollars per year," said Stephen Gallagher and Aneta Markowska of Societe Generale.
The pair added that the move might help stimulate a moribund housing market.
"The Fed's investments in longer-dated Treasury debt should...lower mortgage and other borrowing rates."
In June, the Fed had said the economic recovery was "proceeding" despite headwinds and would remain "moderate for a time."
But against stiff headwinds, the bank on Tuesday promised to keep rates at "exceptionally low levels...for an extended period."
Stock markets pared loses shortly after the announcement, with the Dow index replacing triple digit loses with a modest slide of around 50 points, or around 0.50 percent.
But the move seemed unlikely to end speculation about the need for more robust action.
"Simply reinvesting the proceeds from maturing agency securities will not provide much additional stimulus," said Michael Gapen of Barclays Capital.
"Should the outlook continue to worsen, then the Fed will likely initiate a new round of asset purchases."
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