We have glimpsed the first solid signs since the recession started more than a year and a half ago that economic growth may be poised to resume, Yellen told an audience of bankers in Coeur d'Alene, the largest city in the Idaho panhandle. "Indeed, I expect that to happen sometime this year," she added.

However, Yellen cautioned that there were signs of optimism leading to a recovery, the recovery was "likely to be painfully slow."

Yellen dismissed fears that the expansion of the Fed's balance