The World, and Everything in it: Fed trio move closer to QE3

English: President Barack Obama confers with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke following their meeting at the White House. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a speech to a bankers' convention in Idaho, John Williams, the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, said progress on bringing down the unemployment rate is now running at a “snail's pace,” and perhaps even stalled.He said the Fed is on the “edge” of being forced from the sideline to once again prop up growth. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters last month that the Fed was watching the labor market closely to decide whether or not to undertake more easing steps. Earlier on Monday, two of the most dovish Fed officials speaking at a conference in Bangkok, also expressed concern that the economy was struggling and said they would support more quantitative easing. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said more quantitative easing is appropriate as labor market growth has slowed fairly noticeably and the global economy is vulnerable to financial shocks. The U.S. created just 80,000 jobs in June, further evidence that the economy has hit another rough patch. The unemployment rate was See complete MarketWatch coverage. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2%... Continue to read.

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