President Barack Obama has announced he wants Ben Bernanke to get a second four-year term as head of the Federal Reserve, praising his “calm and wisdom” in the face of a near financial collapse.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the Fed will be able to reel in its extraordinary economic stimulus and prevent a flare up of inflation when the recovery is more firmly rooted.

Banks trimmed borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facility over the past week and cut back on other programs designed to ease the financial crisis, promising signs that some credit problems are easing.

President Barack Obama is offering a broad-scale overhaul of the financial system, saying hard times struck largely because a post-Depression era business regulatory scheme couldn’t keep up with an increasingly global economy.

The economy’s sharp downhill slide eased in the late spring and hopes for future business activity improved, suggesting that the worst of the recession has passed.

The Federal Reserve expects the economy to improve in coming months, even as policymakers have downgraded their outlook for all of 2009.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls for a holistic approach to strengthening oversight of the banking system to prevent future financial crises.

The Federal Reserve says it sees signs the recession may be easing but warns the economy is likely to remain weak. Against that backdrop the Fed held its key lending rate at a record low of between zero and 0.25 percent. It also decided against taking any new steps to shore up the economy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says financial innovation has fallen on hard times because of the economic crisis.

President Barack Obama says he hopes “it doesn’t take too long” to convince Congress to approve new authority to oversee financial firms.

The Federal Reserve says borrowing increased at an annual rate of $1.76 billion in the first month of the year. Economists expected borrowing to decline at a rate of $5 billion.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is meeting with top government officials to develop the administration’s plan for overhauling the $700 billion bailout program and improve regulation of the financial system.

U.S. consumers unexpectedly cut back on their borrowing in October as the economy sunk deeper into recession.

Wall Street hit levels not seen since 2003, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling below the 8,000 mark, as the fate of Detroit’s Big Three automakers and the economy disheartened investors.

The Federal Reserve has granted the request of credit card giant American Express Co. to become a bank holding company.