US President Barack Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke to a 2nd term as Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Tuesday, keeping him on the job of guiding the world’s largest economy out of its deepest downturn since the Great Depression. Bernanke, whose appointment to a new, four-year term as head of the US central bank must be confirmed by the Senate, has flooded crippled financial markets with hundreds of billions of US$s in Fed liquidity and stepped in to attempt rescues of failing financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and AIG. Obama’s Democrats control the Senate, but Bernanke has faced criticism from lawmakers of both parties who say he has gone too far in extending Fed support that will be difficult to unwind, threatening future inflation. Investors have generally given Bernanke high marks on the job and had widely expected him to be kept on by Obama, although the announcement was not expected until later this year.
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