Fed Chairman Mr. Ben Bernanke, on Friday in his much awaited speech at Jackson hole did not signal a new quantitative easing round. He said that he had options open to boost the US economy through various other measures, but did not elaborate on the same.

The Fed chairman in his speech said that the Fed will do what it can to bolster the economy in the short run, but it will take broader effort to get the economy on a better long term growth path. "Most of the economic policies that support robust economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank." he said. He shifted the focus to the policy makers who should now address the major challenges like unemployment, housing and the government budget deficits in the US.

The Fed chairman said that the "very deep slump" in the housing market and the effects of the financial crisis are restraining the growth of the economy. He called for a "good proactive housing policy" to strengthen the housing market and relieve the burden of the mortgage borrowers.

The second quarter GDP of the economy was revised to 1% from 1.3% estimated earlier. He was however optimistic that the growth in the second half would improve and argued that the long term fundamentals of the economy were sound.

He emphasized that Fed still has has a range of tools that could be used, but he faces a difficult task in building a consensus inside the Fed for further action. The Fed has already pushed the short term interest rates near to zero and purchased  $2.3 trillion worth of treasury and mortgage bonds to support the market and keep the short term interest rates low.

The Fed chairman also expressed his concern by his sharp critical comments on the US lawmakers and the White House condemning them  for a divisive debate about raising the federal debt limit earlier this month that "disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well"

Mr Bernanke also urged the Congress and the US administration to come up with a credible plan to reduce the long term budget deficit while avoiding the "creation of fiscal head winds"  that could hurt the economic recovery in the short run.

The Fed has thus clearly indicated that it will maintain a close watch on the indicators, but its now the government who has to act on long term fiscal strengthening  package to support the economy on a whole.

The US President will give a speech after the 5th of September labor day holiday in which it is expected he will layout some proposals to boost hiring.