FEDERAL RESERVE

Gold rose on Wednesday after dipping below $1,600 an ounce as stock markets appeared to have found their footing, but traders said the metal's correlation with volatile equities could trigger more selling.

Industrial commodity prices ended several days of losses on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would take measures to prevent the economy from sliding into recession, although copper and crude oil held near multi-month lows.

Gold prices hovered in a tight range Wednesday as strong physical buying offset renewed optimism among stock investors that Europe might yet avert a sovereign debt-induced recession.

No longer seen as young outcasts with no direction or anything better to do than Occupy Wall Street in protest, the movement that began in New York's financial district is gaining momentum with middle America.

With the economy slowing and the markets crashing, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke put the burden squarely on Congress to act.

The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to help an economy that is close to faltering, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday in his bleakest assessment yet of the fragile U.S. recovery.

The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to help a fragile economic recovery held back by a weak job market and financial stresses in Europe, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.

Gold price declines turned into a gold price plunge in midday trading Tuesday as stock exchanges pared losses, U.S. Treasuries fell and the dollar reversed its earlier gains to turn modestly lower.

The U.S. economy is still suffering from a shocking drop in homeowners' equity and reforms are needed in how mortgage loans are originated and handled, Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin said on Tuesday.

The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to help an economic recovery that is close to faltering, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.

The head of the U.S. central bank Tuesday urged Congress to take four specific steps to lift the nation's economy, which is suffering from ailments more acute than he had thought only recently.

The U.S. economy is still suffering from a shocking drop in homeowners' equity and reforms are needed in how mortgage loans are originated and handled, Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin said on Tuesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.5 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.5 percent at 0841 GMT.

Should the United States tolerate slightly higher inflation, in order to have the economy grow at a faster rate and create more jobs?

Canada wants its central bank governor, Mark Carney, to become head of the Financial Stability Board, the country's finance minister said on Monday days after a highly publicized clash between Carney and one of the world's most powerful bankers.

Gold headed for its largest one-day rise in nearly a month on Monday and silver climbed almost 5 percent after Greece warned it will miss deficit targets set to avoid bankruptcy, unleashing a sell-off in equities and commodities.

If Herman Cain wins next November, he would be the first president in United States history to take office with no political or military experience whatsoever.

Gold headed for its third straight daily rise on Monday, having in September posted its largest monthly slide since 2008, after Greece warned it will miss deficit targets set to avoid bankruptcy, unleashing a sell-off in equities and commodities.

More than three years after the financial crisis struck, the U.S. economy remains stuck in a consumer debt trap.

U.S. stocks are the asset class to be in, Jeremy Siegel, a Finance Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told CNBC.

The Federal Reserve will act if the economy weakens further and has the tools to do so, a top Fed official said on Friday.