Ben Bernanke dashed market hopes that the Federal Reserve is about to unleash another monetary stimulus as he made a strong plea for Congress to take action on fiscal policy.
“Monetary policy is not a panacea, it would be much better to have a broad-based policy effort addressing a whole variety of issues,” said the Fed chairman. “I’d be much more comfortable if, in fact, Congress would take some of this burden from us and address those issues.”
In a measured testimony before the Joint Economic Committee yesterday, the Fed chairman said growth looked set to continue “at a moderate pace”, but made clear that the central bank was ready to respond to a eurozone crisis.