U.S. Fed. Reserve: Economy expanding at 'modest to moderate' pace

The U.S. Federal Reserve said Thursday that the American economy expanded in June and into July at a "modest to moderate" pace but that employment in that country was only managing to grow at a "tepid" pace.

A more clearly positive note was that all 12 of the country's banking districts reported housing starts were up. However, on a down note, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the U.S. Congress earlier this week that hiring had dropped since the beginning of 2012, but he added that the Reserve would take steps to improve employment. He did not reveal what those steps might be. World economy continues to slump This comes at a time when the global economy is continuing to slump and, according to poll results conducted by Reuters news service, will continue to slump for the rest of this year before improving in 2013. In his July 19 story Andy Bruce writes: "The global economy will labor against a dismal tide from recession-hit Europe for the rest of this year. But 2013 should bring better growth, according to Reuters polls of hundreds of economists worldwide." In his story, Bruce came to similar conclusions as the Federal Reserve, chiefly that job increases are not being managed but that the U.S. economy is slowly expanding. The story quoted the chief economist at Standard Chartered in London, Gerard Lyons, as saying vis a vis the American economy that "there is growth."