BEN BERNANKE

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke goes to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify about the sputtering U.S. recovery, but may have to spend much of his time convincing a stubborn Congress to raise the debt ceiling.

The following are highlights of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's prepared remarks on Wednesday to the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee as part of his semi-annual testimony on the U.S. economy and monetary policy.

Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested policymakers are actively considering further stimulus for the economy if it is needed.

Still doubt the good faith and credit of the U.S. Government? Consider this: in June, PIMCO's Bill Gross, the head of the world's largest bond fund, increased his holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, commonly known as Treasuries.

The head of the world's most powerful central bank said Wednesday a third round of quantitative easing, QE3, may be up ahead, if the tepid U.S. economic recovery doesn't improve. However, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in Congressional testimony, underscored that the Fed is also considering other options -- or a monetary tightening -- if the recovery gains strength.

Stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday from three days of losses on stronger-than-expected growth in China, but investors closely watched developments in Europe's debt crisis.

Stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday from three days of losses on stronger-than-expected growth in China, but investors closely watched developments in Europe's debt crisis.

Stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday from three days of losses on stronger-than-expected growth in China, but investors closely watched developments in Europe's debt crisis.

Stock index futures pointed to gains for equities on Wednesday, reversing falls from the previous three sessions, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq up 0.5 to 0.6 percent by 0802 GMT.

Some Federal Reserve officials believe further monetary policy easing could be needed if the recovery remains too sluggish to cut the stubbornly high U.S. jobless rate and if inflation eases as expected, minutes of the Fed's last meeting show.

NEW YORK - Small and medium-sized companies are increasingly glum about the chances of a pickup in growth in the U.S. economy over the next year, a survey published on Tuesday showed.

A dismal U.S. jobs report. A European debt crisis for which there is no quick fix. Slowing growth in China.

Call it a lost two years, and counting.The economic malaise afflicting industrialized economies on both sides of the Atlantic isn't as long-lived as Japan's lost decade yet. But as a distressingly weak June jobs report made clear on Friday, two years after a deep recession ended, central bankers have yet to engineer convincing recoveries.

In a Rose Garden statement, President Barack Obama Friday said the poor June jobs report was primarily due to the debate in Washington, which has been dominated by issues of debt limit.

The world's largest economy continued to create jobs a tepid rate in June, adding just 18,000 jobs, when economists were expected a gain of about 105,000. The sub-par job growth rate increases concern that the economy may enter a double-dip recession.

Pimco chief Mohamed El-Erian on Thursday put low odds on a third round of U.S. monetary stimulus unless there is a major further deterioration in the U.S. economic outlook.

Since June 15, there has been a significant rise in Treasury yields. Below we present several reasons for the spike and why we think that interest rates will continue to move higher.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday large-scale bond buying can be an effective monetary policy substitute when the central bank runs out of room to cut interest rates.

The Federal Reserve should be prepared to act to support the economic recovery again if growth disappoints, a top official said on Thursday, the day the central bank's latest bond buying round ended.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Thursday that while the central bank's massive bond buying program impacted financial markets immediately, its effect on the broad economy will lag by as much as a year.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Thursday that while the central bank's massive bond buying program impacted financial markets immediately, its effect on the broad economy will lag by as much as a year.