This final note today, by way of setting up some news from tomorrow. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s going to be making his first appearances before the 112th Congress. It’s his first session since the Fed started buying Treasury bills — quantitative easing’s the catchphrase.

Paul Ryan, the new head of the House Budget Committee, has some changes in mind for the Fed. Ryan said today he’s going to introduce a bill to get rid of what’s known as the Fed’s dual mandate, the current requirement that the central bank control inflation and maintain full employment. Just inflation-fighting from now on is what Ryan wants.