Interest Rate | featured news

The Federal Reserve Board has promised to keep interest rates at zero until 2013-- an admission that the economy is not expected to rebound for two years-- until the next President is in the White House. This policy step indicates the Fed does not believe the economy will recover either this year or next year. Never before has the central bank made such a policy declaration for as long a period as two years.

Stocks resumed their downward slide in early trading Wednesday as investors retreated from the initial optimism that greeted the Federal Reserve's decision the day before to keep interest rates low.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will likely keep interest rates at record lows for the next two years after acknowledging that the economy is weaker than it had thought and faces increasing risks.

Americans already concerned about their jobs Wednesday begged Washington politicians to stop dithering, cut the budget and resolve a debt crisis they fear could lead to higher interest rates, or worse.

If you save money by putting cash under your mattress, then inflation does indeed rob you of purchasing power. But if, like most of us, you hold your nest egg in a savings account, a money market fund, real estate, or a 401(k) plan then what you care about is your real rate of return, not the inflation rate per se.

Applications for home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to raise the nation's borrowing limit. It warned that inaction could lead to a spike in interest rates that would harm the U.S. economy and world financial markets....

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned in a letter to Congress that failure to raise the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling would drive up interest rates, push down household wealth, put more pressure on federal entitlement programs and cause a double-dip recession.

The recent surge in oil prices is no prelude to broader price increases that would force the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, two top Fed officials said on Thursday.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.