What Does Bernanke's Renomination Mean For FX?
According to senior administration officials President Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday. Mr. Bernanke whose nomination is expected to be confirmed by the Senate has led the Fed through the most turbulent financial time in the nation’s history since the Great Depression.
The early announcement by President Obama is a sign that the Administration wants to assure continuity in the US capital markets just as the economy is beginning to show signs of recovery. Mr. Bernanke, 55, was appointed by Obama's Republican predecessor President George W. Bush to succeed Alan Greenspan and his re-nomination despite the fact that he is a Republican signals a long standing policy of bipartisanship when it comes to the office of the Chairman if the Federal Reserve. Mr. Greenspan, also a Republican served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Mr. Obama is expected to remark on Tuesday that, “The man next to me, Ben Bernanke, has led the Fed through one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced. Our auto industry is showing signs of life. Business investment is showing signs of stabilizing. Our housing market and credit markets have been saved from collapse. As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I'm sure Ben never imagined that he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another.”
Clearly, Mr. Obama’s decision has been motivated by a realization that US and global financial markets desperately need a sense of stability at a time when the banking system still remains vulnerable to further write-downs and credit contractions. Like him or not, Mr. Bernanke has become “known goods” to most market participants and even a relatively well know replacement such a Janet Yellen would have necessitated a period of adjustment in capital markets that could have resulted in yet more volatility.
So what does the Bernanke re-nomination mean for the FX markets? The most direct conclusion we can draw is that monetary policy will continue to be dovish and rates will remain at 25bp for much longer than the market currently believes. Presently Fed funds futures are handicapping a possible rate hike as early as February but we forecast that US rates will remain stationary for most of 2010.
In his tenure as the Fed Chairman Mr. Bernanke has yet to preside over a rate hike and his well known predilection towards an easy monetary policy during times of financial crisis will likely keep the FOMC on the sidelines until the monetary authorities are absolutely certain that a recovery has taken hold. At the very least the Fed will not make any tightening move on rates until US labor conditions improve and job creation turns positive.
Although Dr. Bernanke has constantly given lip service to the notion of a strong dollar, his actions towards the currency can be best summarized as benign neglect. Dr. Bernanke has always chosen to focus on monetary stimulus rather than create an environment for a strong currency unit and we expect that policy posture to continue. While, Dr. Bernanke’s re-nomination does not in and of itself suggest a weaker dollar ahead, it certainly does not provide dollar bulls with any fresh support for the greenback.