BEN BERNANKE

Consumer spending rose less than expected in January as households took advantage of the largest increase in incomes in more than 1-1/2 years to rebuild their savings, government data showed on Monday.

Despite a rise in inflation expectations caused by a flurry of positive economic data, the U.S. Federal Reserve may still not decide to tighten rates any time soon, according to an analyst.

The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank may go their separate ways if Middle East unrest provokes a sustained, inflationary oil price spike.

On Wall Street they wonder: Was that it? Is the pullback over?

On Wall Street they wonder: Was that it? Is the pullback over?

New claims for jobless aid fell last week, indicating labor market healing, but declines in new home sales and orders for a range of factory goods in January showed the recovery remains uneven.

Althea Norwood Roberts gives employers three months to turn her temporary job into a permanent one. Then she looks elsewhere. That's as long as a company needs to see if she's a good fit, the 35-year old single mother from California believes.

U.S. stocks recorded solid performance in the second half of the last year though the early part of the year was jittery. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11 percent, the Nasdaq Composite gained 17 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13 percent. Where do U.S. stocks go from here? There are analysts who think stocks are poised to show further gains this year.

Since the financial crisis, laws have changed to better regulate financial institutions. However, they don’t go far enough and there are still unresolved issues, said Professor Joseph Stiglitz in an interview with IBTimes.

US stocks rose modestly higher on Friday, with S&P 500 Index up 2.52 points, or 0.19 percent, to trade at 1,342.98 at 12:00 p.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42.16 points, or 0.34 percent, to trade at 12,360.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.23 percent to trade at 2,837.98.

China rejected plans to use real exchange rates and currency reserves to measures global economic imbalances, casting doubt on the ability of Group of 20 major economic powers to reach agreement at a meeting on Friday.

US stocks were mixed on Friday, with S&P 500 Index edging down 0.27 points, or 0.02 percent, to trade at 1,340.21 at 09:50 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 14.04 points, or 0.11 percent, to trade at 12,332.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.07 percent to trade at 2,833.52.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s prepared remarks at the Banque de France Financial Stability Review Launch Event, Paris, France, Feb. 18, 2011

You can't really blame financial hacks for getting things so wrong, so often. Because every financial decision you now make is a speculation on interest rates. And so pretty much every story a financial journalist might choose to write must start and end with the same speculation, built on the inaction of each monthly central-bank vote.

Does the unemployment rate is really improving as the US labor force participation rate has been trending downward since 2000?

Federal Reserve officials raised their forecasts for economic growth last month but remained unhappy with the job market's recovery.

John Steinbeck's masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath stands as a chronicle of the Great Depression and as a commentary on the economic and social system that gave rise to it. His themes of man's inhumanity to man, the dignity and rage of the working class, and the selfishness and greed of the moneyed class ring true today.

The debts assumed by the Western democracies will overwhelm their economies and lead to the end of our current Dollar-denominated, global currency regime. This has profound implications for Americans' standard of living and our empire's role in the world.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other top U.S. regulators will appear before the Senate Banking Committee next week to discuss the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the committee announced on Thursday.

New applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a 2-1/2-year low last week, pointing to a stronger footing for the labor market as the economic recovery gathers momentum. The fall in claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday partly reflected the unwinding of a weather-related spike in late January but analysts said it was consistent with other indicators suggesting a strengthening labor market.

Asian stock markets fell on Thursday, while the dollar struggled to make much headway after the U.S. central bank chief signaled the recovery in the world's biggest economy was still fragile and warned against sharp spending cuts.