BEN BERNANKE

Two of the Federal Reserve's most powerful officials said on Monday the U.S. central bank should stick to its super-easy monetary policy, arguing inflation is not a threat and unemployment remains too high.

Backing money with gold isn't the problem for the legion of policy-makers and economists running the official monetary system. Raising interest rates is.

Dueling views on the outlook for inflation and U.S. monetary policy by two top Federal Reserve officials on Friday underscored divisions at the central bank as it nears the end of a controversial stimulus program.

The Federal Reserve should keep its fed funds target rate very low for a long time and complete its asset purchasing program as scheduled, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Sandra Pianalto said on Thursday.

Large financial firms should be allowed to fail or they will continue to take excess risks that lead to crises, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker said on Thursday.

Gold is the world's most stable asset and the best gauge of inflation. The National Inflation Association (NIA) says this brand new breakout in the price of gold leads us to believe that the Federal Reserve is getting ready to unleash QE3 at the end of June.

The U.S. economy remains too fragile for the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates, the president of the Atlanta Fed, Dennis Lockhart, said on Wednesday.

The price of Gold reached new record highs vs. the Dollar on Wednesday in London, breaching $1460 per ounce as world stock markets also kept rising together with commodities and higher-yielding currencies.

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday as a large acquisition helped lift positive sentiment and offset another rate hike in China.

Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) discussed the possibility of reducing the $600-billion size of the second round of quantitative easing (QE2).

FOMC Meeting Minutes March 2011

Stocks rose on Tuesday, led by tech shares after the proposed merger of two major semiconductor companies and an updating of a key Nasdaq index attracted buyers to the sector.

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday as a large acquisition helped lift positive sentiment and offset another rate hike in China.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as an interest rate hike in China and weaker Apple shares were offset by positive sentiment from the latest deal news.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday after China, a main source of global growth, raised its interest rates, while Apple shares fell after the stock's weight in a widely followed index was cut.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday after a slide in Apple Inc, which had its weighting cut in a rebalancing of shares in the Nasdaq 100, forcing some to sell the iPhone maker's stock.

U.S. blue-chip stocks eked out small gains Monday in the lightest trading volume all year, but other major indexes finished flat as the technology sector sagged.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.8 percent at 3:52 a.m. EDT.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.8 percent at 3:52 a.m. EDT.

A recent increase in U.S. inflation is driven primarily by rising commodity prices globally, and is unlikely to persist, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday.

The United States will hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow no later than May 16, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Monday, ramping up pressure on Congress to act to avoid a debt default.