US Fed Cuts Growth Forecasts for 2012

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Federal Reserve said it now expects US growth to be weaker and unemployment higher than it thought in its last set of forecasts, as the central bank left the door open to fresh measures to help the world's biggest economy.

As expected, the Fed held interest rates at 0pc to 0.5pc, but cut its economic growth forecasts for 2012 to between 2.5pc and 2.9pc, down from 3.3pc to 3.7pc.

It also took a more gloomy view on jobs, predicting unemployment will stick at 8.5pc to 8.7pc next year against the 7.8pc to 8.2pc range it had forecast.

While acknowledging the economy had shown improvement in the third quarter, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke struck a downbeat note in his last press conference of the year. Read on and comment » | Richard Blackden | Thursday, November 03, 2011