Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday said the U.S. central bank "would not hesitate" to launch another round of bond purchases to drive borrowing costs lower if it looked like the economy needed it. "We remain entirely prepared to take additional balance sheet actions as necessary to achieve our objectives," Bernanke told reporters. "Those tools remained very much on the table and we would not hesitate to use them should the economy require that additional support." In response to the deepest recession in generations, the Fed lowered benchmark overnight rates to near zero in December 2008 and more than ... (full story)