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Fed Growth Forecasts Key to Further Easing as Job Market Stalls
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers last week the “central question” confronting the Federal Reserve at its next meeting is whether growth is fast enough to make “material progress” reducing unemployment. The answer may well be no. Bernanke and his fellow policy makers gather June 19-20 to revise their economic projections after a report yesterday showing retail sales fell for a second month in May prompted economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to cut their growth forecasts. Fed officials, including Vice Chairman Janet Yellen, have said there’s scope for further easing at some point ... (full story)