Investors love Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke. It’s just his policies they don’t like so much.
Sixty-six per cent of investors have a favourable view of the 57-year-old former Princeton University economist, compared with 31 per cent unfavourable, according to a quarterly global poll of 1,000 Bloomberg customers who are investors, traders or analysts conducted January 21-24. Bernanke is more popular than his European counterpart, Jean-Claude Trichet, and scores higher than all other world political and economic leaders in the poll with the exception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Investors don’t have the same positive regard for the Federal Reserve’s actions, particularly the decision in November to inject $600 billion of stimulus into the financial system. A plurality of respondents, 35 per cent, say that policy, know as quantitative easing, hasn’t had any significant effect on the economy; another 33 per cent say the asset purchases risk a rise in inflation to dangerous levels. Just 27 per cent say the plan to buy Treasuries is working as intended to help reduce unemployment and boost growth.