<p>U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke arrives at the Federal Reserve building in Washington on Tuesday morning (December 11) ahead of a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to set interest rates.</p><br /><p>Bernanke recently voiced support for numerical unemployment and inflation thresholds, in a signal that he backs adopting them to help guide expectations about when the Fed will start raising interest rates.</p><br /><p>The U.S. central bank has said it expects to keep overnight rates near zero until at least mid-2015 and that policy will remain highly accommodative for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens.</p><br /><p>The Fed will announce its latest decision on monetary policy on Wednesday (December 12).</p>
