Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was reconfirmed for a 2nd term by the US Senate today. The vote was 70-30.
This is the most politicized the Fed has become in recent history. The markets will be keeping an eye on how politicians are attempting to influence the Fed. The central bank is a creation of Congress, therefore one would expect some oversight, such as the audit bills certain Congressman are attempting to pass. However, Congress has shown its inability to simply keep a budget, so if Congress gains influence over monetary policy, it could be used for even more inflation of the money supply, which would weaken the dollar.
This was expected and thus did not have a significant impact on the markets.
