New Zealand manufacturers, having already been savaged by the high level of the currency this year, are likely to get no relief after the United States Federal Reserve committed to pumping further stimulus into the US economy. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday promised to buy US$45 billion (NZ$53.3b) of US government bonds a month until the unemployment rate dropped from the current 7.7 per cent to 6.5 per cent. The announcement, which effectively amounted to a promise to print money for at least another two years, comes on top of the US$40b a month the Fed is spending on mortgage-backed securities. The ... (full story)