Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke has raised the possibility of new government stimulus measures should the U.S. economy continue to show a slow recovery. On Wednesday, Bernanke said he would consider cutting interest rates and purchasing U.S. Treasury securities. The official unemployment rate hit 9.1 percent last month, the second consecutive increase.

Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke: “As indicated in today’s policy statement, the economic recovery appears to be proceeding at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the committee had expected, and some recent labor market indicators have also been weaker than expected. For example, the unemployment rate has risen by 0.3 percentage points since March, and new claims for unemployment insurance have moved somewhat higher.”