Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke admitted that giving market moving information to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo at a dinner was a mistake.
I like Ben Bernanke, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, because he admits his mistakes right away. Many in the public eye don't have this ability and it hurts their credibility.
Ben Bernanke, testifying before the Senate Banking committee, just admitted he suffered a "lapse of judgment" to give Maria Bartiromo from CNBC market moving news at a Whitehouse correspondents dinner. Excerpt from AP article follows:
- Bernanke Regrets Comments to Reporter May 23, 2006, 10:38AM By JEANNINE AVERSA AP Economics Writer © 2006 The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday he suffered a "lapse of judgment" by talking to a CNBC reporter recently, a conversation that caused the stock market to tank when his comments were reported. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., asked Bernanke about the episode during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on financial literacy. Bernanke, who took over the Fed job on Feb. 1, rattled financial markets when his comments were reported, and the May 1 incident raised questions about his communications skills. CNBC reported that day that Bernanke said investors had misinterpreted his recent congressional remarks as an indication the Fed was nearly done raising rates. Stocks _ which had been up for most of the day _ slumped. Bernanke, in a congressional appearance on April 27, had raised the possibility of the Fed pausing its two-year, credit-tightening campaign. Stocks rallied that day. The Fed chief's remarks came at a hearing focused on financial literacy. Full Story
I also heard on TV that Bernanke will "stick to more normal channels for speaking to the markets" which means he won't use dinner events to give market moving information to selected reporters.
Ahh... here it is:
- "In the future, my communications with the public and with the markets will be entirely through regular and formal channels."
- "CNBC Television anchor Maria Bartiromo said on May 1 that Bernanke had told her, in a conversation during the White House correspondents dinner the previous Saturday, that he was disappointed with views he was dovish on inflation." from UPDATE 1-Bernanke says Bartiromo episode lapse of judgment
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Since beating the market is hard for most to do, I recommend a "Core and Explore" approach to investing. Core means place 80 to 99% of your money into a CORE, buy-and-hold, no load, mutual fund portfolio and then EXPLORE with the remainder. To build your core portfolio, I suggest a diversified basket of index funds.
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