Economy in Turmoil |
 General Motors exits bankruptcy protection A leaner General Motors emerged from bankruptcy Friday morning, making an unusually quick exit with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy. |
 | Timeline |
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- GM CEO Vows Leaner and Better Company To Emerge
- GM CFO Young: No Positive Cash Flow Until 2009
- Geithner Seeks Clampdown on Derivatives Dealers
- Consumers' Mood Sours in Early July
- Less Demand for Fed's Emergency Backstops
- Claims Total Over 15,400 in Fraud by Madoff
- JPMorgan Asks Treasury to Auction Warrants
- UBS Can't Comply with US Request: Internal Memo
- Cisco Cutting up to 2,000 Jobs, Analyst Says
- Warren Buffett's Top Three Investment Rules for the Average American
- Schork Oil Outlook: It’s Now or Never for the Bulls
- Social Networking's 'Naked' Truth
- Farrell: Let's Enjoy the Numbers for a Moment
- Call Of Shame - Vote Now
- Schmidt on Social Media, Ads and Hulu
- 15 Stocks to Consider
- Maximum Bob Goes Full Throttle For GM
- Najarian: Options Get Bullish on Cisco
- Rigel shares rise on positive arthritis study
- France and Britain top June job losses
- South Dakota's winter wheat crop revised upward
- Barclays chairman says banking crisis is over
- Former owner to buy back Md.-based harness track
- NBTY rises after posting improved fiscal 3Q sales
- Ameriprise paying $17.3M to settle SEC case
- NM utility submits plan for Rio Grande Power Plant
- SAfrican miners hold bosses hostages underground
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WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that it will hold a two-day meeting in December to weigh its next move on interest rates and to make a fresh assessment of the economy.
The Fed's last meeting of the year was originally slated as a one-day session on Dec. 16. Now it will turn into a two-day meeting concluding on that day.
The change will give Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues "additional time for discussion," the central bank said in a brief statement.
Many economists predict the Fed will lower rates again at next month's meeting to aid the sinking economy.
The Fed on Wednesday dramatically lowered its projections for economic activity this year and next. It warned that the nation's unemployment rate — which averaged 4.6 percent last year — would rise sharply higher.
The economy has been badly hurt by a severe financial and credit crisis that has choked the free flow of credit, the oxygen for commerce. Vanishing jobs, shrinking nest eggs and falling home values have forced American consumers to cut back sharply. That jolted the economy into reverse in the summer. Many analysts believe the economy will continue to contract through the rest of this year and into 2009.
To provide some relief, the Fed on Oct. 29 lowered its key rate to 1 percent, a level seen only once before in the last half-century. Just weeks earlier — on Oct. 8_ the Fed had joined with other central banks to slash rates, the first coordinated action of its kind in the Fed's history.
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes