Federal Reserve Debates New Stimulus Measure

He will keep the pedal to the metal deep into 2013 WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faces the first of two days of congressional testimony that will subject the Fed’s controversial bond-buying program to tough scrutiny and gauge his confidence in the resilience of the U.S. economy.

By Ed Liston: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered what the markets yearned for, another round of quantitative easing.At the end of its two-day meeting on Thursday, the Fed announced the launch of a new bond buying program. This is the third round of bond buying program that the Fed has implemented in its efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy. QE3, as the new bond buying program is popularly known as, is the Fed's most aggressive stimulus program since the financial crisis of 2009.

The Federal Reserve chairman's first regular press conference in the US central bank's 98-year history was supposed to make more news when it was announced than when it actually took place. And so it proved. There was nothing much to rile the markets in Ben Bernanke's comments - on the dollar, interest rates or the US deficit.

Tim Duy: Bernanke Saves the Day, by Tim Duy: There was some initial consternation yesterday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave the clarity we were hoping to see. From Reuters:

The Fed's Jackson Hole, Wyoming symposium is one of the most sacred of annual Fed meetings: it is here that the Fed has historically hinted at any and all upcoming episodes of major monetary experimentation. As such, presence by the high priests of global monetarism is not only compulsory, it is a circular stamp of approval of the Fed's ongoing status quo-preservation capabilities.