Raging virus makes zero rates a possibility as Fed meets

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The US Federal Reserve will have one job next week: convince the world they are doing everything they can to blunt the coronavirus impact on the economy even if their tools aren't the best ones for the job.

In the eight weeks since Fed Chair Jerome Powell presided over the central bank's last scheduled policy meeting, the outbreak has transformed the global economy, forcing the Fed to make an emergency half-point cut to its benchmark lending rate and inject $1.5 trillion into financial markets last week.