Bernanke Makes No News, Just Like He Hoped

Ben Bernanke made a little history today by holding the first-ever news conference to explain Federal Reserve policy, and he should be pretty happy with the result, writes Agustino Fontevecchia at Forbes. After all, he faced "a complacent press that didn’t press him on the hard issues," and the result was ... kind of boring. "Basically, Mr. Bernanke made no mistakes, added little to what we know but did show, at least to the public, that he understands their concerns and would do the best he could to get the economy and payrolls growing faster," says the president of Naroff Economic Advisors, reports ABC News.

Other reactions:

• In a blog post headlined "Bernanke Wimps Out," Paul Krugman doesn't get why the Fed isn't being more aggressive. Bernanke said he was worried about the "tradeoff" with inflation. "I think the only way to read it is to say that he has been intimidated by the inflationistas, and is looking for excuses not to act."
• "In immediate terms, the press conference was a success," writes Robin Harding in the Financial Times. "Mr Bernanke smoothly answered relevant questions without departing far from the Fed’s script or comments that it has made in the past." In the long term, it's possible the pressers could call attention to "gaps" in Fed policy.

(More Ben Bernanke stories.)