Scott J. Brown Ph.D., Chief Economist Raymond James Investment Services

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left short-term interest rates unchanged and repeated that “economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.” In its assessment of the economic outlook, the FOMC noted that “the pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated.”

More importantly, the FOMC voted to keep the level of its securities holdings constant by reinvesting principal payments from agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in long-term Treasury securities. By itself, this isn’t a huge move, but it is an important signal that the Fed could do more later on. [Read more]

Scott J. Brown Ph.D., Chief Economist Raymond James Investment Services

In addition to the mostly positive corporate earnings reports this week, the focus fell on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s monetary policy testimony – before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday and in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. While he didn’t offer anything new in support of the economy, he assured the legislators the Fed remains “prepared to take further policy actions as needed.”

In prepared remarks, Bernanke said the economy is “proceeding at a moderate pace.” On the positive side, he noted that business and household demand is rising, but that housing and commercial construction are weak – and that continuing job market weakness is holding back consumer demand. It will require “a significant amount of time” to recoup the 8.5 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009, he said, citing the latest Fed projections that show reducing unemployment “is now expected to be somewhat slower than we previously projected.” Unemployment may stand between 7% and 7.5% at the end of 2012, he said.

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