Fed forecasts unemployment rate to increase
U.S. Federal Reserve officials have modified their unemployment rate predictions as they expect the rate to top 10 percent above the previously forecast value of 9.6 percent. In June the nation's unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent, a 26-year high. The latest projections have cast a new shadow of doubt on the timing the economy will take to recover.

Paulson defends his actions in BofA and Merrill deal
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday defended his actions in warning Bank of America Chief Executive, Kenneth Lewis, and his executives that they could face the prospect of losing his job if they had turned their backs on the merger. He said his actions spared the U.S. financial market from total collapse. Many more Americans would be without their homes, their jobs, their businesses, their savings and their way of life, he said in written testimony prepared for a hearing Thursday.

Fed may raise rates in first 6 months of 2010: Blinder
Former Fed vice chairman, Alan Binder, today in a Bloomberg Television interview said the Federal Reserve may start to raise its target interest rate from its current rate of near zero in the first half of 2010 as the economy recovers.

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