FEDERAL RESERVE

The White House said on Thursday it was still committed to banning risky trading by banks under the so-called Volcker Rule, after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to pour cold water on the idea.

Bank stocks led the S&P 500 Index in Wednesday's rally as Fed Chairman Bernanke reiterates his commitment to low interest rate and offered an optimistic view of the financial markets.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was the center focus for global market participants on Wednesday as he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about the state of the U.S. economy and the Fed's monetary policy.

In his semi-annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke described the myriad of tools in the Fed's arsenal to withdraw liquidity.

Ben Bernanke may have cleared the hurdles to his confirmation for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, but that does not mean lawmakers will be any friendlier to him at high-profile hearings on Wednesday and Thursday.

Federal Reserve officials criticized congressional financial reform proposals that would strip the central bank of oversight powers, saying they could weaken, not strengthen protections against a future crisis.

A senior Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday that regulatory reform proposals before Congress probably won't prevent a future crisis and could hamper the central bank's ability to deal with one.

Two regional Federal Reserve banks led by more hawkish policymakers began a push to raise the discount rate for Fed emergency bank loans in mid-January, according to minutes of a Fed board meeting released on Tuesday.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the U.S. economic recovery was extremely unbalanced, driven largely by high earners benefiting from recovering stock markets and large corporations.

Economic activity rose sharply in January, further evidence the recovery is gaining ground, but manufacturing in Texas slipped in February.

The U.S. economy still needs extraordinarily low interest rates, as inflation is undesirably low and growth will likely be sluggish for several years, a top Federal Reserve official said Monday.

So many variables affect the value of the dollar that it is hard to know where the greenback is headed, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Sandra Pianalto said on Saturday.

Stocks edged higher in choppy trading on Friday as investors took the Federal Reserve's surprise increase in its discount rate as further evidence the financial system is strengthening.

Wall Street dipped on Friday after an unexpected increase in the Federal Reserve's discount rate signaled to some investors that the U.S. central bank may be starting to retreat from its easy money policy.

Wall Street looked set for a lower open on Friday after an unexpected increase in the Federal Reserve's discount rate that signaled to some investors that the U.S. central bank may be starting to retreat from its easy money policy.

Stock index futures fell on Friday on a surprise increase in the Federal Reserve's discount rate that signaled to some investors that the U.S. central bank may be starting to retreat from its easy money policy.

Stock index futures dipped on Friday on a surprise announcement by the Federal Reserve that signaled to some investors that the central bank may be retreating from its easy money policy.

The Federal Reserve said on Thursday it was raising the interest rate it charges banks for emergency loans, citing improvement in financial market conditions.

Several Federal Reserve policy makers want to begin selling securities relatively soon to cut back the U.S. central bank's massive help to the financial system as the economy finds a footing, the Fed said on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve should sell its U.S. mortgage-backed securities holdings sooner rather than later as the economic recovery gathers steam in order to extricate itself from fiscal policy, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday.

Several Federal Reserve policymakers want to begin selling securities relatively soon to cut back on the massive amount of cash they have poured into the financial system, the U.S. central bank said on Wednesday.