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WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are expected to strike a reassuring tone about the country's economic health Wednesday despite persistent worries that problems with risky mortgages could spread.
Fed policymakers opened a two-day meeting Tuesday amid mounting concern on Wall Street, Capitol Hill and elsewhere about troubles in the "subprime" mortgage market.
These lenders, who make home loans to people with blemished credit histories or low incomes, have been battered. Weak home prices and rising interest rates have made it increasingly difficult for borrowers to keep up with their payments. Delinquencies and foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market are soaring.
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