FILE - In this Thursday, May 24, 2012, file photo, William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York speaks in New York. Federal Reserve officials sought Thursday, June 27, 2013, to calm investors by assuring them the Fed won't start trimming its bond purchases until the economy has strengthened. William Dudley said Thursday that if the economy proves weaker than the Fed forecasts, he expects the bond purchases to continue. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
WASHINGTON: It probably seemed like a good idea to Federal Reserve officials at the time. But their decision to stick Fed chairman Ben Bernanke out on live television two weeks ago to explain how the Fed aims to scale back and eventually end its massive economic stimulus programme, without having the message in a well-parsed policy statement he could hide behind, backfired badly.
Trying to publicly explain a nuanced plan that has some key caveats may have been bold but the risks of the message getting garbled in the middle of the Wall Street trading day was high – and that is exactly what happened.
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