Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that rising energy prices jeopardize a currently strong economy and left the door open to the possibility of another interest rate increase to keep inflation in check.
At the same time, though, he raised the prospect of the Fed pausing its nearly 2-year-old rate raising campaign. Many economists are predicting the Fed will bump up rates by another quarter percentage point to 5 percent at the central bank’s next meeting on May 10.
