The first few months of Ben Bernanke’s tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve have been instructive to say the least. Since being sworn in on February 1, he has experienced both the power and peril of his position. First, an off the cuff (but not off the record) remark to a reporter at a Washington dinner about the potential need for further interest rate increases caused a market plunge the following day. Then, on July 19th, when his testimony to Congress gave investors cause to believe that the increases were coming to an end, the market rallied by more than 200 points. While it has certainly been an interesting few months on the job for the new Chairman, we hope it will not match the first few months of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, who was appointed Chairman just weeks before the great crash of ‘87. That was indeed a trial by fire.

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