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The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will not raise interest rates until at least late 2014, even later than investors expected, in an effort to support a sluggish economic recovery.

Without making major shifts to its outlook for the economy, the central bank described the unemployment rate as still elevated and said it expects inflation to remain at levels consistent with stable prices.

It depicted business investment as having slowed, dowgrading its assessment from the December meeting.

Economic conditions “are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014,” the central bank said in a statement.

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, an inflation hawk who rotated into a voting seat this year, dissented against the decision. He preferred to omit the description of the time period for ultra-low rates.

As part of an effort to provide more insight on its thinking to financial markets and the public, the Fed later on Wednesday will begin publishing individual policymakers’ projections for the appropriate path of the benchmark federal funds rate. That release is scheduled for 2 p.m. (1900 GMT)

If the Fed can convince financial markets it will be on hold longer than they had anticipated, long-term interest rates could drop as investors price in the new information.

“A significant contingent of the committee views this exercise not so much as a process improvement but more as an opportunity to ease again via the forward rate communications channel,” Stephen Stanley, an economist at Pierpoint Securities, said ahead of the Fed’s announcement.

There is also the possibility that officials will announce an explicit inflation target, perhaps a hard marker of 2 percent or a range of 2 percent or a bit below guaranteed online personal loans. The Fed has been debating a statement on its long-run goals, but whether one will be released on Wednesday is unclear.

While forecasters expect the U.S. economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, they look for growth of just around 2 percent this year.

Fed officials appear likely to bide their time in determining whether more monetary stimulus is needed. Many economists expect they will eventually decide on another spurt of Fed bond buying - probably one focused on mortgage debt.

In response to the deepest recession in generations, the Fed slashed the overnight federal funds rate to near zero in December 2008. It has also more than tripled the size of its balance sheet to around $2.9 trillion through two separate bond purchase programs.

The policy is credited with having prevented an even more devastating downturn, but it has been insufficient to bring unemployment down to levels considered normal during good economic times.

In December, the U.S. jobless rate stood at 8.5 percent, and some 13 million Americans were still actively looking for work but could not find it.

Analysts said the Fed’s shift in communications will put an even greater emphasis on a post-meeting news conference by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke set for 2:15 p.m. (1915 GMT).

“The chairman is likely to remain non-committal to any additional policy easing, but he is likely to reinforce the Fed’s commitment to ‘review the size and composition of its securities holdings’ and be ‘prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate,’” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities.

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Lee Enterprises Tuesday reported a profit of $14.624 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 25.  That compares to $18.980 million, or 42 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2010.

The newspaper company, owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the year-over-year comparison would be positive if not for refinancing costs and other unusual items.  Excluding such matters, profits would equal 38 cents per share for the recent quarter, compared to 32 cents a year earlier.  

The company filed for bankruptcy last month, submitting a reorganization plan pre-approved by the vast majority of its creditors.  Chief Financial Officer Carl Schmidt said the court will be asked to set Jan. 30 as the date to make the plan effective and conclude the bankruptcy. 

Operating revenue was down 3.9 percent in the December quarter compared to a year earlier payday loans online. Operating expenses were down 5 percent, excluding unusual items, and the work force was down by 7 percent.

As in earlier periods, the company showed sharp gains in digital advertising while print ads, which make up the bulk of its advertising, continued to decline. Combined print and digital advertising was down 6.1 percent. 

CEO Mary Junck said she expects slowly improving revenue trends in 2012.  “Our refinancing agreements, along with our continued strong cash flow, will provide a solid financial footing as we continue reshaping Lee for future growth,” said Junck.

Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 48 daily newspapers, holds an interest in four others, and owns 300 specialty publications in 23 states.

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Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke.

This quiet reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties, including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists.

Industry watchers say the trend is worrisome. Half of all doctors in the nation operate a private practice. So if a cash crunch forces the death of an independent practice, it robs a community of a vital health care resource.

"A lot of independent practices are starting to see serious financial issues," said Marc Lion, CEO of Lion & Company CPAs, LLC, which advises independent doctor practices about their finances.

Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.

Loans to make payroll: Dr. William Pentz, 47, a cardiologist with a Philadelphia private practice, and his partners had to tap into their personal assets to make payroll for employees last year. "And we still barely made payroll last paycheck," he said. "Many of us are also skimping on our own pay."

Pentz said recent steep 35% to 40% cuts in Medicare reimbursements for key cardiovascular services, such as stress tests and echocardiograms, have taken a substantial toll on revenue. "Our total revenue was down about 9% last year compared to 2010," he said.

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"These cuts have destabilized private cardiology practices," he said. "A third of our patients are on Medicare. So these Medicare cuts are by far the biggest factor. Private insurers follow Medicare rates. So those reimbursements are going down as well."

Pentz is thinking about an out. "If this continues, I might seriously consider leaving medicine," he said. "I can’t keep working this way."

Also on his mind, the impending 27.4% Medicare pay cut for doctors. "If that goes through, it will put us under," he said.

Federal law requires that Medicare reimbursement rates be adjusted annually based on a formula tied to the health of the economy. That law says rates should be cut every year to keep Medicare financially sound.

Although Congress has blocked those cuts from happening 13 times over the past decade, most recently on Dec. 23 with a two-month temporary "patch," this dilemma continues to haunt doctors every year.

Beau Donegan, senior executive with a hospital cancer center in Newport Beach, Calif., is well aware of physicians’ financial woes.

"Many are too proud to admit that they are on the verge of bankruptcy," she said. "These physicians see no way out of the downward spiral of reimbursement, escalating costs of treating patients and insurance companies deciding when and how much they will pay them."

Donegan knows an oncologist "with a stellar reputation in the community" who hasn’t taken a salary from his private practice in over a year. He owes drug companies $1.6 million, which he wasn’t reimbursed for.

Dr. Neil Barth is that oncologist. He has been in the top 10% of oncologists in his region, according to U.S. News Top Doctors’ ranking. Still, he is contemplating personal bankruptcy.

That move could shutter his 31-year-old clinical practice and force 6,000 cancer patients to look for a new doctor.

Changes in drug reimbursements have hurt him badly. Until the mid-2000’s, drugs sales were big profit generators for oncologists low interest rate personal loans.

In oncology, doctors were allowed to profit from drug sales. So doctors would buy expensive cancer drugs at bulk prices from drugmakers and then sell them at much higher prices to their patients.

"I grew up in that system. I was spending $1.5 million a month on buying treatment drugs," he said. In 2005, Medicare revised the reimbursement guidelines for cancer drugs, which effectively made reimbursements for many expensive cancer drugs fall to less than the actual cost of the drugs.

"Our reimbursements plummeted," Barth said.

Still, Barth continued to push ahead with innovative research, treating patients with cutting-edge expensive therapies, accepting patients who were underinsured only to realize later that insurers would not pay him back for much of his care.

"I was $3.2 million in debt by mid 2010," said Barth. "It was a sickening feeling. I could no longer care for patients with catastrophic illnesses without scrutinizing every penny first."

He’s since halved his debt and taken on a second job as a consultant to hospitals. But he’s still struggling and considering closing his practice in the next six months.

"The economics of providing health care in this country need to change. It’s too expensive for doctors," he said. "I love medicine. I will find a way to refinance my debt and not lose my home or my practice."

If he does declare bankruptcy, he loses all of it and has to find a way to start over at 60. Until then, he’s turning away new patients whose care he can no longer subsidize.

"I recently got a call from a divorced woman with two kids who is unemployed, house in foreclosure with advanced breast cancer," he said. "The moment has come to this that you now say, ’sorry, we don’t have the capacity to care for you.’ "

Small business 101: A private practice is like a small business. "The only thing different is that a third party, and not the customer, is paying for the service," said Lion.

"Many times I shake my head," he said. "Doctors are trained in medicine but not how to run a business." His biggest challenge is getting doctors to realize where and how their profits are leaking.

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"On average, there’s a 10% to 15% profit leak in a private practice," he said. Much of that is tied to money owed to the practice by patients or insurers. "This is also why they are seeing a cash crunch."

Dr. Mike Gorman, a family physician in Loganvale, Nev., recently took out an SBA loan to keep his practice running and pay his five employees.

"It is embarrassing," he said. "Doctors don’t want to talk about being in debt." But he’s planning a new strategy to deal with his rising business expenses and falling reimbursements.

"I will see more patients, but I won’t check all of their complaints at one time," he explained. "If I do, insurance will bundle my reimbursement into one payment." Patients will have to make repeat visits — an arrangement that he acknowledges is "inconvenient."

"This system pits doctor against patient," he said. "But it’s the only way to beat the system and get paid."

— Are you a doctor who has made financial decisions you came to regret? E-mail Parija Kavilanzand you could be part of an upcoming article. Click here for CNNMoney.com comment policy. 

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Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, a report revealed Monday.

The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was depicted in the report detailing a government investigation.

The 507-page interim report, compiled by interviewing more than 400 people, including utility workers and government officials, found authorities had grossly underestimated tsunami risks, assuming the highest wave would be 6 meters (20 feet). The tsunami hit at more than double those levels.

The report criticized the use of the term “soteigai,” meaning “outside our imagination,” which it said implied authorities were shirking responsibility for what had happened. It said by labeling the events as beyond what could have been expected, officials had invited public distrust.

“This accident has taught us an important lesson on how we must be ready for soteigai,” it said.

The report, set to be finished by mid-2012, found workers at Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that ran Fukushima Dai-ichi, were untrained to handle emergencies like the power shutdown that struck when the tsunami destroyed backup generators _ setting off the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

There was no clear manual to follow, and the workers failed to communicate, not only with the government but also among themselves, it said.

Finding alternative ways to bring sorely needed water to the reactors was delayed for hours because of the mishandling of an emergency cooling system, the report said. Workers assumed the system was working, despite several warning signs it had failed and was sending the nuclear core into meltdown.

The report acknowledged that even if the system had kicked in properly, the tsunami damage may have been so great that meltdowns would have happened anyway.

But a better response might have reduced the core damage, radiation leaks and the hydrogen explosions that followed at two reactors and sent plumes of radiation into the air, according to the report.

Sadder still was how the government dallied in relaying information to the public, such as using evasive language to avoid admitting serious meltdowns at the reactors, the report said.

The government also delayed disclosure of radiation data in the area, unnecessarily exposing entire towns to radiation when they could have evacuated, the report found.

The government recommended changes so utilities will respond properly to serious accidents.

It recommended separating the nuclear regulators from the unit that promotes atomic energy, echoing frequent criticism since the disaster.

Japan’s nuclear regulators were in the same ministry that promotes the industry, but they will be moved to the environment ministry next year to ensure more independence.

The report acknowledged people were still living in fear of radiation spewed into the air and water, as well as radiation in the food they eat. Thousands have been forced to evacuate and have suffered monetary damage from radiation contamination, it said.

“The nuclear disaster is far from over,” the report said.

The earthquake and tsunami left 20,000 people dead or missing.

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Further signs of stress emerged Tuesday to indicate that Europe’s most recent summit agreement to get the euro countries to tighten rules against excessive government spending has only made limited progress in pulling the continent out of its debt crisis.

While figures showed that Europe’s banks parked more money at the European Central Bank than they have at any other time this year, Italy’s borrowing rates traded at levels not far from those that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal into seeking financial bailouts.

The news that overnight deposits by banks to the ECB hit a year high are a sign of distress and mistrust in the system, and come just days after the continent’s banking regulator warned that they need to raise much more capital to plug potential losses from shaky European government debt.

The ECB said banks left euro346.4 billion ($458 billion) with the ECB at a low 0.25 percent interest rate rather than lend it to other banks, indicating they were concerned they might not be paid back. That topped a previous high from Friday of euro334.9 billion.

The rise in their deposits comes in the wake of an agreement by European leaders to forge a new treaty among the 17 members of the eurozone and as many as nine other EU members to toughen rules against accumulating excessive government debts. The treaty won’t be completed until March and tries to address long-term issues, while markets are questioning governments’ ability to pay their debts in the shorter term of the next several months.

“Market sentiment remains cautious regarding the strains in European debt markets,” said Nick Bennenbroek, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank.

Fears of default have led to elevated yields on bonds issued by Italy, the latest focus of the crisis. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds traded at an elevated 6.66 percent on Tuesday, close to the 7 percent levels that led to the bailed-countries giving up on bond market borrowing. Italy is considered too large to bail out.

Banks have also been under strain because they hold government bonds and could suffer losses in case of a default. They are also being pressed by the European Union to find money to increase their financial buffers against losses.

Shares in Germany’s Commerzbank AG fell over 5 percent Tuesday amid speculation the bank might need more government support after the European Banking Authority last week said it was euro5.3 billion short of new capital requirements. The bank has said it won’t take more government help.

Italy did manage to raise euro7 billion ($9 online cash advance.4 billion) in a bond auction Monday, though the relatively strong demand was boosted by a bank association promotion waiving fees to buy the bonds.

Investors remain worried about the future of both Italy and the wider 17-nation eurozone despite an EU deal last week to tighten controls on spending. While that deal will boost longer-term budget discipline, it does little to lower current debt and exposed deepening political division.

Last Friday’s deal also does not fix the deeper imbalances within the eurozone, such as wide gaps between countries with competitive economies and trade surpluses and those which have poor business environments that limit growth and ability to pay debt.

The impact of the agreement to work out a new debt treaty has been blunted by Britain’s decision not to join and questions about how it would be enforced. EU officials sought an accord among all 27 EU states, but Britain did not join the agreement after its request to shelter its financial services sector from what Britain considers burdensome regulation was rejected.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged British Prime Minister David Cameron not to block EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice for supporting and helping enforce the treaty.

Barroso said “it is the European institutions that are the best guarantee that the interest of all European states, including the U.K., will be fully respected.”

There are other potential hitches. Through the new intergovernmental treaty, the participating countries can agree to go beyond the rules in the current EU Treaty _ but can’t sign up to new rules that contradict existing ones.

That is set to cause problems for one of the central summit decisions _ creating more automatic sanctions for budget sinners.

Under the current EU Treaty, the European Commission can declare a country to be in excessive deficit _ a move that forces the country to spell out in detail how it will bring down its deficit and debt or face sanctions _ only if a qualified majority of EU countries agree.

The summit decisions aim to simplify this procedure, by giving the commission the right to declare a state to have an excessive deficit unless a qualified majority of countries vote against it.

__

Steinhauser contributed from Brussels. Frances D’Emilio contributed from Rome.

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India’s industrial production slid 5.1 percent in October, the first fall in over two years and one more sign of a reversal of fortunes for Asia’s third largest economy.

The decline from a year earlier was driven by mining and manufacturing, as well as waning consumer demand and lackluster investment, according to government figures released Monday.

Industrial output hasn’t fallen in India since June 2009.

Despite global headwinds, many economists say India’s troubles are largely homegrown, as the effects of 13 consecutive interest rate hikes begin to ripple through the economy. Political paralysis has also made it difficult to kickstart growth and investment in the face of a plunging rupee and two years of near double-digit inflation.

“This slowdown is clearly continuing and it may be intensifying,” HSBC chief economist for India, Leif Eskesen, said from Singapore. “What’s driving it is the lagged effect of monetary tightening and the high level of inflation that are causing uncertainty about the macroeconomic outlook. That hurts incentives to invest and spend.”

He said policy paralysis was also contributing to India’s woes.

With little scope for stimulus spending, India needs to enact difficult but crucial reforms to kickstart the economy and reassure investors, who are jittery from the dark global economic outlook, economists and businesspeople say.

The government’s humiliating U-turn on its decision to allow greater foreign investment in retail, however, suggests that the ruling Congress Party _ fractured by internal divisions and facing a revolt by opposition parties and coalition allies _ no longer has the leverage to push its reformist agenda.

Parliament has yet to address a slew of issues, which could help spur investment and kickstart growth, which slipped to 6.9 percent in the September quarter, the lowest in over two years.

On the table are a land acquisition bill, which advocates say would ease contentious land transfer policies and speed investment, as well as tax reform, new mining regulations and measures to allow greater foreign investment in defense and aviation.

Last October, industrial production grew by over 11 percent.

The fall was much sharper than expected and puts pressure on the central bank to arrest or start reversing a series of interest rate hikes when it meets this week.

A CNBC-TV18 poll of economists had forecast industrial production to contract 1.6 percent.

Mining activity shrank by 7.2 percent in October, constrained by bureaucratic bottlenecks. Manufacturing slid by 6.0 percent.

Consumer goods production dropped 0.8 percent, while capital goods output plunged 25.5 percent _ a sign of waning investment.

Headline inflation has averaged 9.6 percent since January 2010.

India’s benchmark Sensex index is down over 22 percent this calendar year, making it one of the worst performing in the region. The rupee is down about 14 percent this year and recently hit a lifetime low.

The Ministry of Finance last week trimmed its growth projection for the fiscal year through March to around 7.5 percent, down from an earlier forecast of 9 percent.

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Will the new voice of economic development in St. Louis be coming from a few hours’s drive east?

Louisville media are reporting this morning that Joe Reagan, chief executive of Greater Louisville, Inc., is telling people that he’s one of two finalists for the top job at the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association. Spokespeople for RCGA and GLI did not immediately return calls Monday morning, but Insider Louisville.com reports that Reagan recently e-mailed supporters about the news, and GLI confirmed it to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

News about RCGA’s search has been held close since longtime CEO Richard Fleming announced in January that he is retiring. Fleming is due to leave at year’s end, and presumably the RCGA board hopes to make a hire before then. Last week, people familiar with the search told the Post-Dispatch that the search committee was down to three finalists - one local and two from elsewhere - and that an announcement was expected soon.

Also last week, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay stirred the pot with a blog post calling for the RCGA’s economic development role to be joined in with the economic development agencies of St. Louis City and County and said he’d discuss such a move with whoever the new CEO is. The idea was met with a rebuke by RCGA’s two top board members and skepticism by other in the regional economic development world.

In Reagan, RCGA would be getting a new boss with experience running the same type of organization. Greater Louisville Inc. is both an economic development group and a Chamber of Commerce, funded mostly by private businesses with some public support. He has run GLI since 2005 and makes about $400,000 a year, according to Insider Louisville.

To get a sense of what he might earn running the $9 million-a-year RCGA: Fleming made $467,000 in base pay and bonuses in 2009, plus another $136,000 in benefits and retirement compensation and a $196,000 payout on a multiple-year retirement package, according to RCGA’s tax return. The website reports that some GLI companies are raising money to keep Reagan in Louisville.

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