Given the “slow recovery” in the U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve should make “continued measured efforts” to spur GDP and employment growth, but for now these should be confined to using Fed “communication” tools to reassure markets that interest rates will stay low, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said Monday. A third round of large-scale asset purchases or “quantitative easing” cannot be ruled out, given the “larger than normal risks” posed by the European debt crisis, but QE3 is not appropriate in current circumstances, Lockhart said in Tokyo. But Lockhart, a voting member of the Fed’s ... (full story)