Despite the softening stance of Germany and France towards Greece on Friday, Dow did not recover that strongly. Similarly Asian mkts are easing off after a strong morning open. Dow futures is -75 @2:40pm.
Impt dates:
(a) the FOMC meeting on Tuesday Jun 21st /Wednesday Jun 22nd;(b) European Summit on Jun 23rd;(c) Expiry of QE2 in the US on Jun 30th;(d) Deadline for US debt ceiling to be raised on Aug2nd.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday he didn’t have all the answers as to why the economy has struggled recently as the U.S. central bank closed the doors on a controversial bond purchase program.
“We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting,” Bernanke told a press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting where the central bank said it would end a $600 billion bond purchase program as planned in eight days and kept interest rates at historic lows.Bernanke said that “some part” of the slowdown was due to temporary factor such as higher food and gasoline prices and disruptions to manufacturing because of lack of key parts from earthquake ravaged Japan.But the Fed chairman said it was possible that some of the slowdown might be to longer-lived issues that could persist into 2012. He cited weakness in the financial sector, the housing market and consumer balance sheets as three headwinds.“We have an awful lot of uncertainty right now about how much of the slowdown is temporary, how much is permanent; so that would suggest, all else equal, that little bit of time to see what’s gong to happen is -- would be useful in making policy decisions,” Bernanke said.
Full text:
www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-to-end-qe2...c-worries-2011-06-22
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