Fed clarifies guidance on short-term rates

Published March 19, 2014 6:02pm ET



WASHINGTON (AP) — Janet Yellen tried at her first news conference as Federal Reserve chair to clarify a question that’s consumed investors: When will the Fed start raising short-term interest rates from record lows?

Yellen stressed that with the job market still weak, the Fed intends to keep short-term rates near zero for a “considerable” time and would raise them only gradually. And she said the Fed wouldn’t be dictated solely by the unemployment rate, which Yellen feels overstates the health of the job market and the economy.

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