Central Bank

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is poised to roll out another stimulus program — and risk the wrath of conservative critics. Bernanke and his central bank colleagues gather Wednesday for a pivotal two-day session fresh off last week's disappointing jobs report, the latest in a string of signs that the economic recovery is faltering. And with Europe, China and other nations taking steps to bolster their struggling economies in the face of a global slowdown, Washington and Wall Street expect the Fed to unveil plans for a third round of its controversial bond-buying program when the meeting ends Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. isn't the only place where conservatives have a problem with aggressive central bank intervention in the economy. A senior member of Germany's conservative ruling said the European Central Bank was pushing the limits of its mandate by moving to buy bonds of financially troubled countries . The comments came as a top German court was set to rule this week on a challenge to the euro zone's new bailout fund, Reuters ...

NEW YORK - Investors brushed aside immediate worries over Europe and plowed $325 billion back into stocks. The European Central Bank's plan to buy bonds of debt-saddled countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy sent U.S. stock markets roaring up 2% to four-year highs Thursday after weeks of light summer trading. Investors have worried the Eurozone would fall apart as the monetary union's debt crisis drags on. Investors cheered the ECB move. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 244.52 points, or 1.9%, to 13,292 - a level not seen since December 2007, the month the Great Recession officially began.

The European Central Bank announced Thursday that it would buy the bonds of financially flailing countries such as Spain and Italy in unlimited quantities if necessary to keep their borrowing costs down, in an unprecedented move to keep a lid on the euro debt crisis. ECB chief Mario Draghi said such bold intervention was necessary to relieve undue pressure on governments whose borrowing rates have hit unwarrantably high levels, fueled by investors' “unfounded fears” that Europe's common currency was heading for a messy, debt-induced death.

The European Central Bank unveiled an aggressive plan to buy the bonds of financially flailing countries such as Spain and Italy, its boldest step yet to stanch the continent's 3-year-old debt crisis and one that could lift the U.S. and the global economies. The bond-buying plan unveiled Thursday is intended to stimulate economic growth by reducing the borrowing costs for cooperating Eurozone governments. But its ultimate purpose is to set up a financially adequate and politically acceptable way of containing the crisis and maintaining the survival of the euro currency.

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke gave a spirited defense of Fed policies and left little doubt that the central bank was preparing new stimulus for the economy - an action that could roil Republicans and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney since it would probably occur in the heat of the general election. Speaking on the morning after Romney's nomination address, which focused on the sluggish economy, Bernanke expressed his dissatisfaction with the weak recovery and in particular with what he described as the "painfully slow" improvement in the job market.

WASHINGTON - Late summer is a beautiful time to be in scenic Jackson Hole, Wyo., particularly if you're an economic bigwig, but European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is canceling his reservations. He's got a more pressing matter at home: trying to solve the European debt crisis. The ECB said Tuesday that Draghi would not participate in the eagerly anticipated Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium later this week, the annual gathering of central bankers and economists hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, according to media reports.

Stocks edged higher ahead of big meetings by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank this week. The central banks could take highly anticipated steps to prop up U.S. and European economies, moves that could jolt equity markets higher. After a choppy start, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21 points, or 0.2%, to 13,097 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 2 points, or 0.2%, to 1,388. The Nasdaq gained 9 points, or 0.3%, to 2,967.

WASHINGTON - The shaky global economy got a much-needed breather after Europe's top central banker pledged to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro. Financial markets in the U.S. were further buoyed Thursday by a pair of better-than-expected economic reports at home: The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims fell sharply last week, and the Commerce Department reported that new orders for longer-lasting manufactured goods rose at a healthy rate in June. Neither report was as good as it appeared on the surface, but investors seemed to look past that as they took comfort in the news out of Europe.