Unemployment, Interest Rate | featured news

The data is likely to put pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates at its next meeting.

The central bank said Wednesday that it would maintain short-term interest rates near zero, even after it stops buying bonds, for as long as the unemployment rate stayed above 6.5 percent.

Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a wide-ranging defense Monday of the Federal Reserve's aggressive policies to stimulate the still-weak economy. The Fed needs to drive down long-term borrowing rates because the economy isn't growing fast enough to reduce high unemployment, Bernanke said in a speech to the Economic Club of Indiana. The unemployment rate is 8.1 percent.

Unemployment is likely to stay high for a long time, two Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday, suggesting the U.S. central bank is in no rush to raise its ultra-low interest-rate policy.

Focused on keeping the recovery going and driving down double-digit unemployment, the Federal Reserve is poised to leave interest rates at a record low.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to take note of an improving economy at the close of a meeting on Wednesday, while cautioning that high unemployment puts the recovery at risk.