Fed officials clash over aid for economy

Fed officials clash over aid for economy

WASHINGTON

Divisions within the Federal Reserve over how to pump up the economy and lower unemployment came into sharper view Wednesday.

Three Fed officials squared off in competing speeches over how much help would come from one likely next step — buying more government debt.

Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, argued that such an effort may not help the economy much. Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, made a similar point. But, Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said Fed policymakers must do what they can to bring some more relief.

Metro jobless rates

WASHINGTON

The unemployment rate fell in two-thirds of the nation’s 372 metro areas last month, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s an improvement from July, when the rate fell in only 152 areas.

Ohio’s August 2009 and July 2010 rates were equal at 10.3 percent. The August 2010 jobless rate improved to 9.7 percent.

In the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman region, the rates went from 12.6 percent in August 2009 to 11.8 percent in July 2010 and 11.1 percent in August.

WTO scolds US

GENEVA

The Obama administration received its first rebuke from the World Trade Organization on Wednesday as a three-member panel declared that an American ban on Chinese poultry is illegal.

The WTO said the U.S. was violating a number of its trade obligations by preventing Chinese chicken parts from entering the U.S. market.

Associated Press