Fed not yet decided on more easing: Dudley

The US Federal Reserve has not yet decided whether to embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, though it remains an option, an influential Fed official said on Monday. New York Fed President William Dudley, a close ally of Chairman Ben Bernanke, painted a mixed picture of the US economy, tempering recent signs the recovery is gaining speed with warnings that it could just as easily stall out.
"Nothing has been decided," he said of QE3, in which the Fed would make large-scale asset purchases in an attempt to lower rates and give the economy another controversial shot of adrenaline. "It all depends on how the economy evolves," Dudley added. Dudley, like Bernanke in recent testimony to Congress, defended the central bank's ultra-easy policy stance but did not offer any guidance on what more the Fed was prepared to do to help the recovery and ratchet down the unemployment rate, which remains a high 8.3 percent.