Bernanke says growth will slow significantly in coming months

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that a host of economic problems will cause business growth to slow noticeably in coming months.

Bernanke told Congress' Joint Economic Committee that the central bank is watching developments closely, but gave no signal that it's prepared at the current time to cut interest rates even further.

Fed policymakers last week cut a key interest rate for the second time in two months, but disappointed Wall Street by discouraging expectations that it would follow with further rate cuts.