Commercial banks and other financial institutions need to beef up their ability to detect and protect themselves against risks like the credit and mortgage debacles, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday.

Financial markets are starting to work better, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today, but are still not functioning normally despite Fed intervention. Meanwhile, new data on retail sales suggests American consumers, though stressed, are not cutting their spending in a dramatic way.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke acknowledged today for the first time that the United States may be in a recession, projecting that the economy could shrink during the first half of this year.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other U.S. regulators will propose tougher scrutiny of banks' capital in a report on lessons from the mortgage crisis, a government official said Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke today said the crush of mortgage foreclosures is likely to continue for "a while longer" and urged lenders to move more aggressively to reduce the amount owed by many of the borrowers at risk of losing their homes.

The nation's current economic downturn is in many ways a harder problem for policymakers than the 2001 recession, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today. But he rejected the notion that the United States is facing stagflation, the combination of inflation and a stagnant economy that some analysts fear.

In testimony before Congress, the Federal Reserve chairman hints at a further interest rate cut next month. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke painted a bleak picture of the economy Wednesday, suggesting tough times ahead for many Americans and all but guaranteeing further interest rate cuts as the central bank tries to avert the worst of the trouble.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled openness to further interest rate cuts today, though he also indicated that the risk of higher-than-expected inflation has increased in recent weeks and that the central bank will be watching that trend carefully.

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ben S. Bernanke, who has reduced interest rates faster than any Federal Reserve chairman since 1982, is failing to bring down the cost of credit for most American homeowners.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today that the U.S. economy will be "sluggish" for months to come but should begin to recover later this year.