Fed leaves rates alone

Despite last week's news of an increase in unemployment to 6%, the Fed decided that last month's aggressive half-point cut in borrowing costs was enough for the time being to prevent the economy sliding back into recession.

The central bank's open market committee voted unanimously to leave rates unchanged, saying that the previous easing of monetary policy coupled with strong productivity growth were "providing important ongoing support to economic activity".

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was holding on to a gain of 60 points in late trading.