WASHINGTON – The nation’s financial markets “seem to be working well” after yesterday’s global selloff, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the U.S. House Budget Committee today.
His comment came in response to questions from the panel during his previously scheduled testimony, Bloomberg News noted.
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Bernanke also told the panel the Fed’s outlook had not been changed by today’s U.S. gross domestic product report, in which the economy’s fourth-quarter growth was lower than predicted. And he stood by earlier forecasts of an upswing: “There’s a reasonable possibility that we’ll see some strengthening of the economy sometime during the middle of the year,” he said.
Stocks extended their gains from earlier in the day, and yields on Treasury notes rose, after his comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 52.39 or 0.4 percent at 12,268.63 points; the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied 7.78 points or 0.6 percent to 1,406.82;. The Nasdaq Composite gained 8.27 or 0.3 percent to 2,416.13, Bloomberg said.
