WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve will spend $45 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. And it says it plans to keep a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.

The policies are intended to help an economy that the Fed says is growing only modestly with 7.7 percent unemployment in November.

Stocks and bond yields rose after the Fed's statement was released Wednesday after its final policy meeting of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average was little changed just before the Fed news crossed at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time and jumped 69 points shortly after.