President’s Obama choice to lead the Federal Reserve faces the first of her confirmation hearings this morning. The questions today come from members of the Senate Banking Committee.  Janet Yellen said this morning that the Federal Reserve still “has more work to do,” which some hear as a vote for keeping the stimulus going. 

Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics in Washington, is not among that crowd.

“I think that’s people looking for what they want to see,” she says. “That sentence indicates clear openness to more accommodation, which we knew she would. But it is totally non-committal, and, of course, that’s totally on purpose.”

Petrou says that with such crucial issues at stake, like jobs for Americans and the health of the economy, Yellen has no choice but so say there’s “more work to do” for the Federal Reserve.

“That’s why Ms. Yellen is saying there’s more work to do, because how could she or anyone at the Fed be satisfied with the condition of the economy right now?”