Bernanke hint on US rate pause dents dollar (Dollar to 7 month low)

[TexasLawyer]

Saturday Apr 29 2006 . All times are London time

US / Federal Reserve Print article | Email article

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ed6f07ca-d5f6-11da-8b3a-0000779e2340.html

Bernanke hint on US rate pause dents dollar

By Krishna Guha in Washington, Richard McGregor in Beijing and Chris Giles in London
Published: April 27 2006 15:18 | Last updated: April 27 2006 20:30

Ben Bernanke

The dollar fell to seven-month lows against the euro on Thursday after Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, prepared the markets for a halt in the US rate-tightening cycle that began in June 2004.

China, meanwhile, moved to tackle a surge in new bank loans and investment by lifting its benchmark one-year lending rate by 0.27 of a percentage point to 5.85 per cent, sparking a brief sell-off in commodities and shares tied to the booming Chinese economy.

However, US stocks rose as investors interpreted Mr Bernanke’s comments as signalling that the Fed would go on hold after raising rates by one final quarter point to 5 per cent at its next meeting in May.

Mr Bernanke told the joint economic committee of Congress that the generally strong economic data since the Fed’s last policy meeting in March “have not materially changed” the assessment it reached then about the risks to inflation.

<snip>

[AndyTiedye]

1. Warming Up the Helicopter

[tanyev]

2. You're doing a heckuva job, Bennie.

[ckramer]

3. He sentenced the dollar a death penalty

He is more of a politican than an economist.