(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-18 23:57

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve is expected to aggressively lower interest rates in its intensified battle against the credit crisis and spreading economic weakness. The question is whether all of the effort will turn the tide.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke in Washington, February 14, 2008. The Fed is expected to slash interest rates by as much as a whole percentage point at its policy meeting on Tuesday as investors warily await investment bank results that could aggravate fears of a full-blown markets crisis. [Agencies]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have already been working overtime, employing a variety of novel approaches to keep the economy out of a recession or at least moderate the impact of any downturn.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made the rounds of the morning TV shows Tuesday to underscore the administration's commitment to keeping turmoil in the financial markets from worsening a struggling economy.

"The priority we have is a stable, orderly financial" market, he said on CBS' "The Early Show.

He said the focus of policymakers "is reducing the spillover into the real economy from the turbulence and disruptions in our financial markets."

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