Bernanke: The Fed will Continue to Assess “Modest” Recovery

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s closely-watched speech at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank’s annual Jackson Hole, Wyo. Conference gave no indication of how the central bank would act to boost the U.S. recovery, now more than two-and-a-half years-old. Bernanke said the recovery “has been much less robust than we had hoped.” He cited the still devastated housing market and the “historic financial crisis” as two key factors in slowing the recovery.

Bernanke did not use the summer retreat to announce a new round of monetary stimulus, as some investors hoped. ‘The Committee will continue to assess the economic outlook in light of incoming information and is prepared to employ its tool as appropriate to promote a stronger a stronger economic recovery in a context of price stability,” he said. Bernanke’s speech was delivered the same day that the Commerce Department announced that the economy grew by an annual rate of only 1 percent in April through June, not the 1.3 percent that was previously estimated, The Wall Street Journal reported. There are also renewed fears the economy may experience a double-dip recession in the wake of a recent round of weak data,