Updated at 3:26 p.m. EASTERN

With the recession apparently over, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held a key interest rate at a record low and again pledged to keep it there for an "extended period" to foster the fragile economic recovery.

The Fed said economic activity has "continued to pick up" and that the housing market also has grown stronger, a key ingredient to a sustained recovery.

But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues warned that rising joblessness and hard-to-get-credit for many people and companies could restrain the rebound in the months ahead.

Against that backdrop, the Fed kept the target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent. And it made no major changes to a program to help drive down mortgage rates.

The Fed is spending well over a trillion dollars to buy up mortgage loans from banks. That allows the banks to then loan more and props up the housing market, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason