Fed not signaling new info on economy: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's decision to dramatically reduce interest rates on Tuesday does not signal new information on the U.S. recession and it still expects a recovery next year, a senior Fed official said.

The official spoke in an unprecedented conference call with reporters after the Fed announced it was cutting the benchmark federal funds rate target to a range of zero to 25 basis points. His identity was withheld under the ground rules for the call.

The official said the fourth quarter would be very weak and this weakness would extend into the first quarter of 2009, with U.S. growth picking up slowly over the course of the year. This outlook, he stressed, was consistent with private forecasts.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Neil Stempleman)