Fed keeps low lending rates intact

The central bank cut lending rates to zero to 0.25 percent December 2008 at the height of the financial meltdown.

The Fed said economic conditions pointed to maintaining rates low "for an extended period," describing the economic recovery as uneven.

Business spending "has risen significantly," the Open Market Committee said, but household spending "remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth and tight credit."

Nine committee members approved leaving rates alone, while Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, voted against the policy.

Hoenig's vote, in part, represented his concern that, with the lending rate as low as it can go, the bank's options are limited, the Fed said in a statement.

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