Boston Fed chief says economy improving

Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, state the nation’s economic recovery is moving forward, but not so fast the Federal Reserve should abandon policies aimed at stimulating growth.

Positive economic signs: strong stock market performance; a falling unemployment rate; and job gains.

Negative economic signs: consumer spending remains subdued; weak housing market; cutbacks in state and local government spending; and the European debt crisis.

The U.S. economy will grow at 2.5% in 2012, a pace that will only modestly lower the national unemployment rate. Nearly 14 million Americans remain unemployed. There is a need to continue using Fed policies to bolster the nation’s economic recovery or risk a backslide.

Erin Ailworth, The Boston Globe, March 2, 2012