Bernanke Says New Purchases Should Aid Growth With Lower Rates

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said resuming large-scale asset purchases should boost economic growth through lower borrowing costs and higher stock prices and that concerns about the strategy are “overstated.”

“This approach eased financial conditions in the past and, so far, looks to be effective again,” Bernanke said today in an opinion article for the Washington Post released hours after the Fed announced the $600 billion of Treasury buying through June in a second round of unconventional monetary stimulus.