WBRZ - Baton Rouge

The Federal Reserve says the economy is up moderately as hiring and consumer spending improved so its holding off on new steps to jump start it. Most economists expected Fed policy makers used their final meeting of the year to fine-tune a strategy for communicating changes in interest rates. The Fed has left rates near zero for the past three years. Fed leaders cautioned in their statement on Tuesday that unemployment remains high and it noted that global economic growth has slowed. Its seen as a reference to Europe's debt crisis. The Fed policymakers left open the possibility of taking new steps next year if the economy worsens.