BBC News with John Jason

The chairman of the American Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has given the strongest indication yet that he may need to take more action to make the fragile recovery of the US economy on track. He said high unemployment and low inflation continue to pose a risk. Mark Mardell is in Washington.

The economic recovery in the USA officially began more than a year ago, but to many Americans it hardly feels like the recession has ended. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, says that consumer confidence and spending are at the heart of the recovery, but growth has been less vigorous than he would like because of uncertainty among consumers and a painfully slow recovery of the jobs market. Moreover, he sees little improvement next year, with unemployment only declining slowly. Mr Bernanke gently hints there's a case for further action by the Federal Reserve that is buying more treasury bonds, the modern equivalent of printing more money.