Maria moves the markets
I sometimes have CNBC on in my office, sort of as background noise. This afternoon I heard Maria Bartiromo describing her weekend conversation with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
The media and the markets basically got it wrong last week in speculating that the Fed is done raising interest rates.
I’m thinking to myself, “Hmm. That’s going to make some people uncomfortable with their positions.” Especially since this was pretty much the opposite of what people were thinking after last week’s Fed testimony.
Here’s the AP summary:
Last Thursday, Bernanke told a congressional panel the central bank could pause — but not necessarily stop — its string of rate hikes while it keeps a close watch on the economy’s health. However, according to CNBC, Bernanke said future increases will depend mostly on economic data; that stand was troubling to an interest rate-sensitive market.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve, Michelle Smith, declined to comment on the CNBC report
Well, that was fun. Some quick thoughts:
- If this was intended as clarification of Fed policy, why not say so directly, instead of indirectly? And why not officially comment when given the opportunity?
- Why did CNBC sit on this all day, instead of reporting pre-open, when they already had the story in hand?
- Who profited from this? This would have been handy information to have in one’s pocket this morning…
You can currently watch the clip on the CNBC site (requires IE6).
Update 05-02-2006 1030PDT: Trader Mike has a thorough roundup of comments from various blogs.
Tags: fed, bernanke, policy, media, cnbc, finance, investing, stock, bond, trading, cnbc
