Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Shhh "Fed Governors Silent for Longest Stretch Since at Least 1996"

From Real Time Economics:
The Federal Reserve entered its traditional blackout period Tuesday, a stretch of five business days in which central bankers stop talking publicly about monetary policy as they prepare for their next policy meeting.

Staying silent won’t be hard for members of the Fed’s Washington-based Board of Governors. They’ve kept quiet about their views for a much longer period of time: two months.

By the time Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke steps out for his press conference next week, at the end of the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting, two months will have passed since he — or any of his colleagues on the Fed board — delivered a speech or congressional testimony on any topic. That was July 18, the second of the Fed chairman’s two days on Capitol Hill delivering the Fed’s semiannual monetary policy report.

That’s the longest stretch of time for the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors to avoid prepared remarks since at least 1996....MORE