The Fed is watching for the economy to reach or approach full employment and generate higher inflation before raising interest rates from near zero.

Subsequent increases will be gradual without following a predictable path, the Fed chair says.

The Senate is preparing to confirm Stanley Fischer to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, bolstering its membership as the Fed winds down the most aggressive easing in its 100-year history.

Feeble returns on the safest investments such as bank deposits and fixed-income securities represent a financial repression transferring money from savers to borrowers, says Bill Gross, manager of the worlds biggest bond fund.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard says "we all knew the day would arrive when the unemployment rate would go through the threshold, and the natural thing to do is to switch to more qualitative guidance.