Bernanke is exiting the central bank stage on January 31 so today’s speech at 2:30 pm will be one of his last. He’s speaking in Philadelphia at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting and it’s being billed as his last major speech.
There is no set topic for the speech so that indicates it won’t be anything major but at this point in Bernanke’s tenure, he doesn’t need to follow Fed customs to the letter. There is no word on whether he will take questions at the end but I suspect he will.
Remember that when Bernanke last spoke, after the Fed meeting, he was speaking for the FOMC. Today, he has the opportunity to speak for himself and for that reason, he might tilt more dovishly. The chatter ahead of the speech swings the other way, with many expecting him to express a more optimistic view on the economy.
