Market uproar follows Fed 'misunderstanding'

Financial Times/Yahoo ^ | 5/1/2006 | Jennifer Hughes

[tobyhill]

Stocks fell on Monday after CNBC's Maria Bartiromo revealed on air that Ben Bernanke felt his testimony last week had been "misunderstood."

The anchor said Mr Bernanke had told her at the White House Correspondents' dinner in Washington on Saturday that he had not intended the markets to infer that the Fed was nearly done raising interest rates.

[tobyhill]

Insert Foot.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Well past time for Maria to be investigated, convicted and jailed.

Along with her cohort, Cramer.

[robowombat]

"I asked him whether the markets got it right after his congressional testimony and he said, flatly, no," Ms Bartiromo said. She was reporting live from floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the resulting trading roar almost drowned out the rest of her remarks."

Is the Fed Chief an idiot or what?

[Darkwolf377]

Gee, I wonder if there will be anymore misunderstandings on election day...

[xcamel]

This is a huge FUBAR for her and PMSNBC - she should be fired. Now.

[tobyhill]

I love the part where CNBC claims they're not responsible to make a corrections even if they knew it was a misstatement.

[steve86]

Maria clearly ended the 2002 bear market with her on-air comment that "maybe they (the viewers) should go short".

I think this cyclical bull market may have just turned as well.

She does have a way with words. I witnessed both episodes.

Although the SEC no doubt monitors Cramer quite closely and should, Maria doesn't own individual issues (other than her 401k) or even index derivatives, last I heard. Although some here will be eager to charge her with manipulation, these comments are more a matter of dumb naiveté .

[arthurus]

So long as the FED is inflating the currency the fed will continue to raise the interest rates as a response to that inflaton. Raising rates is not a move to head off inflation. It is a response to existing inflation.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

That has been the history of CNBC.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

"Last Thursday, Bernanke told a congressional panel the central bank could pause -- but not necessarily stop -- its string of rate hikes while it keeps a close watch on the economy's health. However, according to CNBC, Bernanke said future increases will depend mostly on economic data; that stand was troubling to an interest rate-sensitive market.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve, Michelle Smith, declined to comment on the CNBC report.

Although the day's better-than-forecast economic numbers gave investors reassurance that the economy is growing at a comfortable pace, Treasury yields jumped as the bond market fretted about interest rates. Continued tension over Iran's nuclear arms program also drove up oil prices almost $2 a barrel."
Meanwhile, everyone else was watching the boycott that was not. The Maria beeyotch should be charged with manipulation.

[steve86]

I would think that if Bernanke did say something to that effect, and it was meant to be on the record, it should have been treated as news by CNBC/NBC and packaged appropriately and not blurted out in an uncontrolled way by Bartiromo.

[em2vn]

For reporting what the Fed chairman said?

[tobyhill]

Unfreakinreal that one person can manipulate the market like this.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Maria has a long history of tilting the markets, along with Cramer.

Don't confuse reports with allegations and out right rumors.

[tobyhill]

Is this what he really said or what she said he said? Ben has had no problems in the past speaking about the feds intent in public.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Some will come on this thread and intone that an 80 point drop in a 20 minute time frame is mere coincidence, and nobody made a killing. Riiiight.

[tobyhill]

They play this game on CNBC all the time so my only conclusion is they want the market to tank.

[p23185]

Gee, I wonder if there will be anymore misunderstandings on election day...

You can count on it . . . .

[durasell]

they have no motive to help it tank

[tobyhill]

They have been downplaying strong economic news for years now for tidbits of bad news. I don't know that they need a motive, I just see their actions have lead to some manipulations.