In relatively unscheduled fashion, President Barack Obama announced his nomination for the next Federal Reserve Chairman: Ben Bernanke. Praising Bernanke for “preventing” a repeat of the Great Depression, Obama also noted that the current Fed Chief exhibited “calm and wisdom” when bringing the economy back from the brink. A no-brainer of a decision, the announcement actually caught some in the market by surprise as an actual nomination wasn’t expected to arrive till later in the third quarter. Moreover, a different front runner was expected to assume the role as Monetary Chief, Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers. As a result, speculation surfaced over the timing and release of Bernanke’s second term nod. Incidentally, the 9 am press conference was prior to the stock market open of 9:30 am and the even more important release of the pessimistic report by the Congressional Budget Office. Was the President boxed into appeasing the market considering the massively detrimental report following the Massachusetts based announcement? More surprises may be on the horizon as two more nominations are expected for the newly revamped Federal Reserve.

US consumer confidence rose more than anticipated for the month of August as fears over unemployment and economic turmoil slowly abated. According to the Conference Board, confidence ratcheted higher to a 54.1 print from a previously revised score of 47.4 in the month of July. Interestingly, the better than expected results were boosted by an optimistic assessment of the current economic situation. Most respondents saw job market recovery in the near future helping to support the component. Even more notable, the expectations index witnessed a sharp recovery, jumping to a level not seen in almost two years. As a result, the report could bode well for the world’s largest economy, with expectations that the current good vibes may translate into bottom line consumption. The report helped to boost the US dollar throughout the session, making notable gains against the Euro, British Pound and Canadian dollar.

Tags: ben bernanke, Consumer Confidence

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Economic Indicators, Economy, US Dollar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.