Fed mulling targets for jobs, inflation: report (by Greg Robb)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has started a process that may lead to the central bank setting targets for unemployment and inflation, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said Bernanke has asked Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed and a prominent dove and Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Fed, and a prominent hawk, to work together on improving how the Fed explains its economic goals. One key issue is explaining what would make the Fed hike rates given its August statement that it expects to keep rates near zero until mid-2013. The issue is unlikely to be resolved at the Fed's two-day policy meeting that ends Wednesday, the report said.