Two top Fed officials cool to more easing

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two top Federal Reserve officia

(Reuters) - A string of speeches from top Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday suggeste

By Ann Saphir and Jonatha

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two top Federal Reserve officials offered widely different endorsements of more U.S.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve ramped up its stimulus to the economy on Wednesday, expressing disappointment with the pace of recovery in employment as contentious U.S. budget talks heighten uncertainty about the outlook. The central bank replaced a more modest stimulus program due to expire at year-end with a fresh round of Treasury purchases that will increase its balance sheet. It committed to monthly purchases of US$45-billion in Treasuries on top of the US$40-billion per month in mortgage-backed bonds it started buying in September.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve should loosen policy further with a new round of bond purchases as a way to bring down unemployment, even at the risk of driving inflation temporarily higher, one of the Fed's most dovish policymakers said on Monday. "Additional monetary accommodation is needed to more quickly boost output to its full potential level," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told a forum in Bangkok. "The economic circumstances warrant extremely strong accommodation. ...