Bernanke for second term appointment

US President Barack Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Fed today, seeking to retain his services in steering the world’s largest economy out of its deepest downturn since the 1930s. Bernanke’s appointment though will need to be confirmed by the Senate where he has faced criticism from certain lawmakers who feel that his policies of lowering the interest rates to near zero and flooding the financial markets with over a trillion dollars have been an over-extension of Fed support that will be difficult to unwind, threatening future inflation. However, most investors have given Bernanke, whose current term expires on January 31st 2010, high marks and widely anticipated his reappointment.