The Bernank will speak at a small business forum in Washington at 18:00 GMT and will take questions, from what I understand.
Traders expect Bernanke to remain unconcerned with inflation given the enormous levels of slack in the US economy. Commodity spikes just don’t float the Captain’s boat, as we saw in 2008 (when oil went close to $150).
Trichet stopped well short of hitting the panic button on inflation today but he did acknowledge that inflation would exceed the ECB’s target in the near-term. The mere mention of inflation as a threat by the ECB president help accelerate a furious EUR/USD rally which continues to this moment.
The juxtaposition of the at-least-moderately concerned Trichet with the hands off Bernanke is working against the dollar and will continue to do so in the near-term.
