Ben Bernanke Speaking In Front Of Congress

CNBC's Hampton Pearson just gave a run down on what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will say in front f Congress today, as he testifies for two days. Bernanke is set to say that the Fed remains ready to respond if it is needed. He even goes on to give a few options that the Federal Reserve has, with more quantitative easing being one of them. Bernanke said that the Fed could provide more explicit guidance about the balance sheet size, additional QE (which was mentioned yesterday in the FOMC minutes), and the potential for cutting interest paid on bank reserves. Bernanke also says in his prepared remarks that if there is a true economic rebound, then he provided the exit strategy for the Fed. Bernanke said that the weaker than expected economy is due to temporary factors, and he believes that the economy will pick up steam in the upcoming quarters. He believes that the rising inflation we have seen is transitory, and will subside shortly. He blames the weak economy on limited access to credit, and lower than expected consumer spending.