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WASHINGTON (AP) - Keeping inflation under control as the economy emerges from a yearlong sluggish spell is certain to be a matter of lively debate for Federal Reserve policymakers.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues on Wednesday afternoon opened a two-day meeting where the economy's current and future performance will be assessed. The strength of the anticipated economic rebound, the depth of the housing slump, problems with risky mortgages, the state of the employment climate, and the direction of gasoline and other energy prices also will figure prominently in those discussions.
When it wraps up its meeting Thursday, the Fed is widely expected to hold a key interest rate at 5.25 percent, where it has stood for a year. Given that expectation, Wall Street investors, economists and others are keenly interested in the Fed's assessment of economic conditions and what that might mean for rate moves in the future.
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