Two immediate thoughts come to mind about this, one economic and one political:
1) Ben Bernanke is a safe, strong choice, sure to be liked by both the Bond and Equity markets. He has already shown a gift for Jawboning, which has evolved into a key aspect of the Fed Chair’s job. One can only hope that his infamous "printing press" comments — essentially threatening hyper-inflation as a response to Deflationary concerns — was just so much Jawboning.
2) The Fed chair replacement comes amid the tumult of the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination, the previous black eye of the FEMA chief Brown — and not even discussing the problematic appointments of the poor planning in Iraq post-War period — this is one appointment that the pro-market White House wouldn’t dream of risking on anything less than a stellar candidate, and that have one in Bernanke. We should expect an easy confirmation.
As a side note, I continue to be stunned by the breadth of the Princeton Economics department continues — not just Bernanke, but Burton G. Malkiel, Alan S. Blinder, Paul Krugman, Alan B. Krueger, Daniel Kahneman (and I have no affiliation with Princeton).
Someone on CNBC referred to Bernanke as “Helicopter Ben”. I think that’ll stick for life. LOL.
The other is Greenspan was appointed Fed Chairman in August, 1987. I’m trying to find the chart but as I remember, Volker had been hiking rates up until his resignation. Baker as Sec Treasury tried to jawbone the Germans on the mark. And we all know what happened in October, 1987. New Fed chair, rate hikes, and Greenspan/Snow jawboning the Chinese. Interesting parallels.
Funds bottomed at 5.85% in October, 1986
and rose to 7.29% in October, 1987.
on the friday before teh stock market crashed 2yr notes traded at 9.50% and 30yr bonds traded at 10.50%……………………..by the middle of the following week in resonse to the crash the 2yr note traded down to 7.50%. that was volatility!! jjj
Bernanke named as new Fed chairman
Contrary to widespread conjecture President Bush did not appoint his accountant to be the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He appointed Ben Bernanke:
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush on Monday selected Ben Bernanke, chairman of the president…
Bernanke named as new Fed chairman
Contrary to widespread conjecture President Bush did not appoint his accountant to be the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He appointed Ben Bernanke:
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush on Monday selected Ben Bernanke, chairman of the president…