The Fed has a message if you dig a little
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, speaks today. He’s taking questions at the Economic Club of New York. Marketplace’s Jeremy Hobson has a preview.
Jeremy Hobson: Fed watchers aren’t expecting major news out of today’s speech.
Lyle Gramley is a senior economic advisor with Soleil Securities. He says Fed economists have already indicated that the emergency measures put in place last year aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Lyle Gramley: The Fed still believes strongly, as I do, that inflation is not only going to stay low, but probably go still lower yet — and that therefore it would be a mistake for the Fed to start raising interest rates.
Of course, no big news doesn’t mean no news at all.
Dan Greenhaus is chief economist at Miller Tabak:
Dan Greenhaus: When they go out there and they speak, especially Ben Bernanke, they want to tell you something. You just have to sometimes dig through a lot of trash to find the diamond in the rough so to speak.
And for Greenhaus, that diamond might be an idea of just what indicators Bernanke is looking at to determine when it’s time to ramp up interest rates and stop propping up various parts of the economy.
In New York, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
