Federal Reserve

The nation's basic money supply, known as M1, rose $1.3 billion to a seasonally adjusted $758.0 billion in the week ended April 27 from a revised $756.7 billion the previous week, the central bank said. The previous week's figure originally was reported as $757.0 billion. M1 includes cash in circulation, checking deposits and non-bank travelers checks.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve gave its strongest signal yet that it would undertake a new effort this fall to strengthen the hobbling economic recovery. Unless the economy improved significantly, "many members" of the Fed's policymaking committee felt that additional stimulus would be needed "fairly soon," according to an account of the group's last meeting, which ended Aug. 1. Policymakers didn't specify which actions might be taken. But the meeting minutes, which were released Wednesday after the usual three-week lag, suggested that their preferred option was large-scale bond purchases known in Fed-talk as QE3, short for a third round of quantitative easing.

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve policymakers held steady on their new stimulus program, noting some improvement in household spending and an uptick in inflation since the effort began last month. In a statement after its two-day meeting Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee left short-term interest rates unchanged and reiterated that it planned to keep them at their current level at least through mid-2015 because of the struggling economic recovery. Six weeks after the Fed fired what might be its last bullet to try to strengthen the recovery, analysts did not expect the central bank to make any major new announcements Wednesday.

There's nothing like a slap in the face from the Federal Reserve to rattle a stock price. Just ask investors in Citigroup Inc. Citi shares dropped 3.4% Wednesday after its poor showing in the Fed's stress tests for big banks whose failures might blow up the financial system. For the most part, the Fed report amounted to a stamp of approval for the banking industry's recovery from a near-meltdown. Many of the giants — including JPMorgan Chase & Co., US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. — were sound enough to return more of their profit to shareholders, the Fed said in its bank stress test report.

WASHINGTON - The richest 7% of American families saw their average wealth soar 28% from 2009 to 2011, while the remaining households lost 4% of their net worth over the same period, according to a new report. The analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center draws on the most recent statistics on wealth. The findings throw into stark relief the dramatically uneven nature of the recovery. The economy officially emerged from recession in mid-2009, and since then, affluent families have benefited handsomely from recovering stock prices and surging gains in bonds.

WASHINGTON -- Despite the moderate pace of recovery, the Federal Reserve is so worried about the stubbornly high level of unemployment that it promised to extend its unprecedented stimulus steps until there is "substantial improvement," Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said. "The conditions now prevailing in the job market represent an enormous waste of human and economic potential," Bernanke told reporters Wednesday. The new goal for the Fed is to get the jobless rate down to 6.5%, the first time it has tied interest rates to a specific unemployment target.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that a newly designed $100 bill would begin circulating in October, more than two years after the initial target date. The $100 bill, a prime target for counterfeiters, will in its new version feature advanced security features such as a blue 3-D ribbon running through the middle and a disappearing image of the Liberty Bell. Benjamin Franklin's face will still be printed off-center on the front of the bill. The new note was originally slated to begin circulating in 2011, but problems including unwanted creases in bills delayed production until this year.

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve policymakers signaled for the first time that they could "increase or reduce" their controversial efforts to stimulate the economy in the future, but for now they're holding pat. After a two-day policy meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 11 to 1 to maintain its rock-bottom interest rates and continue its so-called quantitative easing program of purchasing $85 billion of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities...

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave a private, unsolicited briefing on the Mexican peso crisis to Rush Limbaugh, dean of the conservative radio talk-show set, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Word of Greenspan's telephone conversation with Limbaugh three weeks ago raised eyebrows here because it seemed inconsistent with the aura of high-toned detachment that Greenspan has projected in his frequent appearances on Capitol Hill.

NEW YORK -- Stocks slumped about 1% in early trading Friday after the Labor Department reported that the economy added a paltry 88,000 jobs last month.  The Dow Jones industrial average shed 148.68 points, or 1.02%, to 14,457.43 soon after the opening bell. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 17.47 points, or 1.12%, to 1,542.51. The tech-focused Nasdaq was off 45.67 points, or 1.42%, to 3,179.31. "This was clearly a disappointment," said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist with Prudential Financial.