"The Case for Holding a Fed News Conference at Every Meeting " via ForexLive

The Wall Street Journal with an interesting article:

• The head of the Federal Reserve holds a press briefing after four of the central bank's eight meetings each year
• Despite assurances from both Mr. Bernanke and his successor, Janet Yellen, that policy makers could snap into action at any time, many analysts and investors have come to believe the Fed will wait for a meeting with a news conference to make a major move.
• This expectation appears built into many economists' forecasts for a first Fed interest-rate increase. In their notes to clients, they generally stick to either June, September or December—all meetings with press conferences.
• Andrew Levin, a senior research fellow at the International Monetary Fund says the Federal Open Market Committee should really think about holding a news conference after every meeting
• “Thus, it would seem sensible to start holding a press conference in conjunction with every FOMC meeting. After all, such press conferences are invaluable for explaining the Committee's outlook and policy judgments”

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One thing that jumps out at me from the article is this …

• “Despite assurances from both Mr. Bernanke and his successor, Janet Yellen, that policy makers could snap into action at any time” … “many analysts and investors have come to believe the Fed will wait for a meeting with a news conference to make a major move”.

Really?

I think maybe the case isn't so much for a press conference after each meeting (though I have no objections to this) as for employing analysts and investors who aren't so naive.

Singapore didn't even wait for a meeting, let alone a press conference

Neither did India

Oh, yeah. Any of these analysts even heard of the Swiss National Bank?

I need a cup of tea.

posted via ForexLive