Bernanke Took the Spot Light

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke grabbed the headlines during yesterday’s session as President Obama nominated him to for a second term as the Fed Chief. While there were debates on the matter, most investors agreed that it was a wise thing for the U.S economy, allowing the chairman to fully restore the economy to healthy economy growth.

The news had an impact on the session sending the indices higher. The financial sector, which has been most affected by the Fed’s efforts, closed up by 1.26%, with Federal National Mortgage and Bank of America leading the way higher. Even though the indices bounced higher at the start of the session, energy weighed on the intraday session, preventing a major rally. The S&P500 finished the session with a 0.24% gain, while the Nasdaq closed up by 0.31%.

Economic data also had a large impact on the session, as U.S consumer confidence jumped to 54.1, beating analyst’s expectations of a 47.9 figure. Furthermore housing data shocked some traders, as the S&P/CS Home Price indices composite showed a better than expected figure, coming out at -15.40%, while the house price index increased by 0.5%. Even though it was lower than last month’s figure, the result came out better than expected.

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