by the middle of 2009, the nation was crawling out of recession. in december, bernanke was named time magazine's person of the year. more than $3 trillion in bonds later, the economy is steadily growing, the housing market is recovering, and the fed is winding down it's stimulus. it has had unintended consequences. by keeping interest rates low, it will fueled record rallies in stocks, increasing the divides between the haves and the have notes. the top 1% of americans captured 90% of the income gains in the first two years of recovery. >> it was not working the way it was anticipated. it's benefiting wall street, and not having a lot of benefit to main street. >> reporter: it's now left to bernanke's successor. janet yellen, to deal with the legacy of qe. but as he hands over the keys of the biggest financial institution on the planet, bernanke has earned his place in history. >> he kept the recession from turning into the biggest depression in history. >> the u.s. public is divided in its opinion of bernanke as he leaves office. a gallop poll said that 35% disapprove.

that policy has been the signature of outgoing federal chairman ben bernanke. t the fed will begin to ease off the easing under new chair janet yellen. under this new edition, we'll examine the green shoots of a recovering economy. >> reporter: the federal reserve wrapped up two days of policy meetings and concluded the u.s. economy is strong enough to start tapering the banks investment program known as quantitative easing. >> we'll be purchasing $75 billion a month reducing purchasing of treasuries by $5 million each. >> reporter: the positive signs are few but strong. unemployment reached a five-year low of 7% in november. the southboun s&p 500, and congress passed a budget for the first time all year. >> the economy is continuing to make progress but it has much farther to travel before conditions with be judged normal. notebly, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace as we expect growth to pick up helped by monetary policies and waning fiscal drag. >> reporter: all this good economic news could mean that it's time for the fertile reserve to ease i

the bottom line -- the final meeting for an bernanke as ed chairman -- the final meeting for ben bernanke as fed chairman. >> thank you so much. let's get a quick check on the market reaction. we did see a bit of a spike, but right now, the average is still lower. dow jones industrials down 100 41 points. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq composite index art down .75% -- are down .75%. let's get some reaction to the head and announcement -- the fed announcement. >> the fed state away from any kind of controversy. they noted that the economy was showing mixed signals in january, but "on balance" was the term they kept using, in general, the economy continues to improve, but they kept everything pretty much the same. they continued with the taper as forecasted. they are going to keep an eye on it. did not put any new threshold in or change the forward titans. looks like then bernanke -- looks like bernanke decided he would just punch it over to janet yellen. if anything comes, it will be on her watch. >> not a surprise. it is important that they kept their inflation mandate in tact, and i think it

by 2009 the nation crawled out of recession. in december ben bernankeas named "time" magazine's person of year. three million bond buying later the economy is growing. the housing market is recovering and the fed is winding down its stim u luz. it has had unintended consequences. by keeping interest rates lou ben bernanke's inscro vasion fuelled rallies and stocks, worse nipping the divide -- worsening the divide between the have and there not. the top americans captured 95% of income gains. >> it was not working the way it had been anticipated. it's a policy that seems to be disproportionately benefitting wall street and not leaving a lot of knock-on benefit to main street. >> it's left to ben bernanke's successor to deal with the legacy of qe: as he hands over the keys few dispute the place ben bernanke earnt in history. >> he prevent the great recession tonning into a second great depression. that's the biggest thing. >> well, the u.s. public is divided in its opinion of ben bernanke has he leaves office. 47% of americans approve of the way he handle

the bull market. here's steve leaseman with more on ben bernanke. >> reporter: for most of the second half of 2013, fedhairman ben bernanke sang a single tune. don't fear the taper. but it wasn't always well received on wall street. he first warned in may of a possible reduction to the fed's bond-buying program known as quantitative easing or q.e. >> if we see continued improvement and have confidence that that is going to be sustained, then we could in the next few meetings, take a step down in our pace of purchases. >> reporter: the dow industrial average would lose 90 points over the next two days. and 400 points over the next week. in june, bernanke spelled out a schedule for ending q.e. >> we would continue to reduce the pace of purchases in measured steps through the first half of next year, ending purchases around mid year. >> reporter: the dow would shed another 500 points over just two days. but after a weak august jobs report and the government on the sherj of a shutdown, bernanke -- verge of a shutdown, bernanke would reverse course. >> the committee concluded the economic data do not yet pr

a lot of focus on the bernanke legacy. i wanted to get insight. at the brookings institution. good to see you and thank you for the time. you look at the bernanke years, what is the legacy he leaves behind in your view? of havinges a legacy coped well with the worst financial crisis of any of our lifetimes. that is a considerable achievement. he did not anticipate this. we can say he foresaw this and headed it off. he did not do that. timee was in charge at the the financial world fell apart. they had to improvise and do everything they could think of to keep the world banking system from collapsing and he did it and that is a considerable achievement. >> and do we have to look at the reality of where the economy is today? the struggle we had coming into the financial crisis? we are not where he hoped we would be at this point. >> we are not where anybody hoped we would be at this point. but we had a very severe financial crisis and we know it makes it hard to combat. the fed did everything it could. one might criticize fiscal authorities. not doin

the man at the center of that action, chairman ben bernanke, is ending his term today. newshour economics corespondent paul soloman looks at his legacy and the questions awaiting his successor. it's part of his reporting on making sense of financial news. >> reporter: in 2012, still a hero on the cover of the atlantic. but as that magazines cover also asked: why does everyone hate him? so hero? or zero? rather than trawl the darker corners of the internet, we thought we'd ask two professional economists, on the right and left, to grade bernanke's performance. >> i give him for his whole tenure an a-. >> reporter: economics professor alan blinder, a past vice chairman of the fed, hired ben bernanke at princeton, so of course he's biased. but in his post-crash bestseller, after the music stopped, even blinder takes bernanke to task for letting lehman brothers fail, freezing credit worldwide. that lowers the grade from a straight a or a+. >> the lehman episode just sticks in my craw, not to save lehman or put them to bed in a more gentle way, this is a joint mistake of ben

we have already seen some weakness in the housing recovery. ben bernanke mentioned that. u are also seeing economists .ick it up a bit it could be a speed bump if we keep it happening long enough so the regular home buyer can come in. have seen banks like jpmorgan chase loosen credit standards for regular homeowners to make mortgages more accessible. if that works and that boosts how may people can get mortgages, then you really have -- >> just how short are our memories, just how stupid are we? >> i think a lot of people did learn a lesson in 2008. we still have a substantial met -- substantial number of people who are under mortgage. real estate doesn't always go up. we actually believe that it was part of the national mantra for many years. problem. necessarily a it is a reality that is holding back the housing market. >> hold that thought. act in a few. it is 26 minutes past the hour. it is time for bloomberg on the markets. you will in fact see a mixed picture. slightly better for the dow. a record year for stocks. the dow is closing 20 six percent predict s&p closing

the idea that bernanke is leaving, kelly, doesn't mean the debate ends. hink bernanke giving an upbeat comment on the economy, both domestically and abroad is significant, reiterating his promise or pledge by the fed to remain low on interest rates is also significant. he also decided to spend a little time saying, you know what, when it comes time, we have the tools to remove the excess liquiddy ty from the market. that's another thing we have to start watching for, if indeed we get there. >> brian kel y it's interesting because we saw comments from plosser indicating the fed would have to act more aggressive. interesting coming from someone traditionally more hawkish. is that why the market was struggling toward the end of the day? >> there's a lot of moving points, cross-currents today, so it's hard to point to one thing. but the comments are interesting, particularly when you see the banks doing so well everyone is talking about a steep yield curve. if the banks take some money out of excess reserves and actually start lending that out, then you get th

i think that's one of the big questions that will surround the bernanke tenure. ell: you may have noticed on the screen, no, i was just noticing that bernanke is in the room, they've sat down, and i'm sure they'll get started officially in a minute or two, and once they do, we'll take it live. in all of these discussions, we never know what would have happened had he not done that, so isn't it almost -- i won't say impossible, but it's difficult to judge and grade people when you can't say, well, if you didn't do that, we would have fallen off a cliff. >> i think most economists can see at that point in 2008 when we were in the crisis that the fed needed to step in and provide some liquidity into the system. i mean, there is an argument that they shoulded not have intervened at all, but i think that was a risk most people feel it was just too great to take. the question is, should they have continued the quantitative easing and the liquidity as they have ever since 2008, keeping interest rates nearly at zero or at zero? that's what's so unique about this. to have

the process of unwinding the stimulus was set in motion under bernanke. that still leaves yellen the forbidable task of continuing to phase out the fed's bond-buying program without derailing the economic recovery. patricia sabga, al jazeera, new york. >> she will take over when ben bernanke's second term expires. up next one of the top minds in the retail industry gives a glimpse of what is ahead. a copier. >>> lisa fletcher joins with what is coming up on "the stream." lisa, we hear about legalizing drugs, but it is usually different in different states. >> that's right. and tonight we're breaking it down asking if american's opinions are changing as much as advocates indicate. >> that's going to be interesting. don't miss "the stream" right after "real money." >>> the price of a bitcoin spiked above $1,000, as zinga announced it is going to accept the currency. so now you can use fake money to buy fake stuff from video games. bitcoins are not regulated by any banking authority. the value of one bitcoin topped a thousand, but then the rally stalled after

will janet yellen stay on the bernanke path or cut a new one on her own? th all things fed, "wall treet journal's" jon hilsenrath the fed reporter. >> happy new year. david: happy new year. we have a lost opposition. not enough to knock down the nomination. she will be confirmed but we've never seen this much opposition before. is it against her personally or is this some kind of a vote against the fed? >> well, i think it would be, you would call it a vote against the fed. let's not forget when bernanke was renominated by barack obama four years ago he faced a lot of opposition and fed and white house had to fight really hard to keep him in the job. i think what we're seeing is more of that. particularly from republicans who are unhappy with a lot of unconventional things the fed has done under bernanke's tenure. david: is it going to affect janet yellen in any way? will she take that as a message? >> no, i on't think it will affect her. i think she will be confirmed. and the opposition that is, that is more of an issue for her is not what she sees in the

economic growth in coming quarters. >> the bernanke pep talk helped but not a jolt of red bull. today's final numbers, the dow up a modest 28 points and the nasdaq lower by 11 and s&p was a fraction of a point lower. well, big blue chip stocks started haltingly. dominic chu reports why many market pros are watching small, fast growing companies more closely than those suddenly stumbling big company shares. >> reporter: the skies are getting a bit darker for some investors. it's not a full blown storm yet but many traders are keeping a close eye on small cap stocks. they had a rocky start to 2014 and there is a big reason why investors care. they are considered to be leading indicators for the overall market and economy. >> small cap companies are the largest employer in the u.s. they are reflective of what would be going on in the u.s. employment market which is critical. >> often times, optimism leads investors to bet on smaller companies. they are the ones with room to grow and get hit the hardest in tough economic times. since hitting a 5 2-week high, small cap stocks as measu

will the republicans have what it takes to regain the senate in november? and ben bernanke gives an optimistic farewell address claiming qe boosted the recovery. but aren't we really headed for a multiyear fed tightening cycle? that's his gift to janet yellin. those stories and much more coming up on "the kudlow report" beginning right now. >>> good evening, everyone, i'm larry kudlow. this is "the kudlow report." we are live here 7:00 p.m. sxeern eastern and 4:00 p.m. pacific. much of the east coast digging out from a big snowstorm today and man,'s is it cold. single digits here in new york. nbc news's ron mott joins us live from boston, where it may be worse. good evening, ron, and thank you. >> reporter: hey, larry, good evening to you. let me tell you, it is so cold out here it's hard for me to really convey to you how cold it is. the muscles in my face are really straining to be able to get this mouth to talk, but i can tell you it's 9 degrees right now with a wind chill of about 7 below. the temperatures are plunging quickly. and overnight we're expecting the wind chi

, but it could have been a lot worse without a lot of the creative and imaginative things that the bernanke fed did. secondly, with continuing that imagination, that creativity, you might even call it bravery because he was getting a lot of criticism, into the recovery period because it was such a weak recovery and trying to do very unusual, let's say, and unprecedented things like qe-2, qe 3, operation twists, to try to give the economy some life. >> allan blinder thank you. as always great to see you. former vice-chairman of the board of governors at the federal reserve. >>> more now on the crisis in turkey. despite a massive hike in interest rates that we told you about last night, the struggling turkish lira failed to make sizeable gains today. business leaders are hoping for some stability in the turkish economy. michelle caruso-cabrera has more. >> reporter: orlando sold $150 million worth of industrial air conditioners last year. he imports the parts for those air conditioners from all over the world. he's frustrated, though, because his overseas parts are costing him more nearly eve

david: the market didn't seem to like what bernanke was saying too much. down a bit from its highs. let's go back to the cme pits to see what the s&p futures are doing as we head into this weekend. go ahead, chris. >> yes. the s&p futures right now they're set to close a lot lower than they were about an hour ago. we have a five handle move to the downside and again the s&p futures indicating an outlook that is not as good as what the current s&p contract is trading at, on the nyse composite. so really look for a open that is to the downside tomorrow. prepare yourself, you know, possibly buy the open, if it opens very low. david: okay. once again the open is on monday, not saturday this week. >> mopped. david: chris, thank you so much. great stuff. have a good weekend. cheryl: chris is so dead caded he wants to work tomorrow. i love the guys. those guys are so focused. market heading down into the weekend. cheryl: right eight on strong december sales number. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> we kept a close eye on rite aid di

>> the main thing is to continue what bernanke has done. nomysee now that the is picking up again. you have to start winding down the quantitative easing policy. but you have to do it in a progressive way, a controlled way, because if you do it to brutally, that long-term interest rates will go up. do is to wind to it down for aggressively -- wind it down not too aggressively. that is the challenge. but i think she will do very well. she has been working with bernanke and she understands very well the policies. themnk she will implement slowly, the winding down of the quantitative easing. >> a professor of economics at harvard university, thank you for speaking with us. storyhead now to our top out of geneva, where the syrian peace talks, the first round of them, wrapping up. we can listen into the human mediator, lakhdar brahimi, as he speaks. >> each one will present their respective reading of what happened this week. and i am presenting my reading of what happened. today inberate effort the statement, to speak almost only about the few p

this could have a major impact on markets. >> >> glor: as we look back, how are you assessing the bernanke legacy right now? >> it has been a crazy time like the seven years he has been heading the central bank have been so enormously impactful and what the fed has done in their minds is we saved the financial system, now, there are many critics who say they have done so with these really strange tools that are going to come back and haunt us and maybe create inflation and others say they did a fantastic job but love them or hate them he certainly will be a key and instrumental fed chairman in the 100 year history of the central bank. >> glor: jill, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> glor: a peace gesture from the pope took an unexpected turn in st. peter's square today, take a look as the pope called dialogue in ukraine, released two doves, with an immediately attacked by a seagull and a crow. the doves eventually flew away, it is not known what happened to them. still ahead, cain and abel. a new kind of exercise for aging americans. >> for qualifying new students. with this scholarshi

there are those who the judgment is out on ben bernanke. did he expose the fed to greater risk by those actions? what is your response? the greater risk would have been not doing it. the greater risk would have been allowing be economy to be even weaker, allowing the unemployment rate to run higher thelonger and allowing potential economy to be hurt by the high unemployment. the main risk the economy has faced over the last six or eight years since the crisis began was the risk of weakness and he fought against that. his commentsed in that there could be adverse effects on some parts of the financial system. the fed is monitoring that closely. they have new tools to deal with have deployed the powers they've gotten under dodd frank to strengthen the banking system and they are doing that. it would be foolish to say there are no risks or potential downsides out there, but looking at the choices that had to be made and the risk on the economy and financial side that the fed has done what it needed to do to come to the best possible outcome in

the show. ben bernanke's leadership witnessed one of the world's most volatile periods, and what is bernanke's rformance? >> reporter: i think the assessment is submit in two. he took a lot of flack for not seeing the crisis coming, because remember while he was pointed fed chairman in 2006, he was on the board in the early 2000s, but also chair of bush's economic council of advisers in the 2004-2005 period. so he had a role, and he was certainly among the many economists who didn't see the crisis coming. he gets high marks from fellow economists for his aggressive response in terms of the stim stimulus that he delivered to the economy once he saw the crisis. so the legacy is mixed and the story is not finished because his policies are in place, but it behooves his successor, janet yellen, to tell the tail of how these will end. >> we'll get to janet yellen in a moment, but while he was able to steer the u.s. away from devastation, the wall street journal said that five years after the recovery, it's frustratingly weak. and is this because of his policies or due to circumstances beyond his cont

♪ then all the economists loved him ♪ ♪ and they shouted out with billy ♪ ♪ ben bernanke, the central yo go down in history ♪ [applause] >> chairman bernanke is a very humble guy. it's common when you get an economist together or people to say i can't believe that kind of lack of gratitude that the politicians have often shown for what they did in the crisis. i think we are very close to the great depression to .0. if it hadn't been for the chairman's leadership things could been very, very different. it's unfortunate, i think economists recognize this, i'm sure history will treat you really, really well. it's too bad that there hasn't been more fun as it's been going on. [laughter] >> can't even give you a gift because of the giving limit. but after your out i will offer you some tickets and. [applause] >> i have to admit that when you organized this session, your nightmare is some fellow who thinks he's a comic. [laughter] and is going to produce something. for the last week we've been talking about, well, thi this ts really a good idea? [laughter] like, if it goes over well, you wi

this is the last meeting for ben bernanke as fed chief. as we count you down to the bulk of this market, it's not really in a great mood. as its worst point today, the dow was down 174 points. we have recovered quite a bit of that. we are down about 140 right now. the spike started at about 10:00 a.m. or so. the biotech index once again in focus. the top performer today, it's up some 50% for the year and we will follow that in just a few moments. more on that coming up. three sectors have been holding above the break-even point all day. those are the materials, energy and utilities sectors ahead of the fed. also, let's check the dollar versus the euro. right now the dollar, it's been a very interesting session. against the euro, you can see the move there. still a big short squeeze again the yen today. that's why you see that relationship between the dollar yen. there's the pound and also, we put the turkish lira up of course because it is very much in focus. all right. let's bring in bob pisani as we look at the ten-year note. 2.71% on the

the economy? >> if you go back to what ben bernanke wrote, he had two goals. the wealth effect and the other was to bring down rates. he has brought down rates. whether he's increased the wealth of facts that is debatable. rates increase in eventually as we taper. >> with all the stimulus, why do you suppose money is still sitting at the banks question sitting at the banks? >> it is at historic lows right now. we have talked about deleveraging and said consumers are ready to deleverage, but i don't think we are done. money going into the system going into the reserves. >> what does that mean for the corporate community? lex that is the $64,000 question. increase over the longer-term and we had to be careful because on the short end of the rates curve, you might want to see rates fall back a bit if you get aggressive that action. >> why does it seem as if there is so little conviction in the equity markets right now? littleto remember, conviction but it's really just indigestion. we are long-term guys. when we look at this, we are only down four percent year to

january 31 today we are going to focus on out with the old, and in with the new. bernanke's last day as federal reserve chairman. it is the chinese new year, the year of the horse. speak to the man who designed the u.s. postal stamp that celebrates the location. ccasion. we will also talk about groundhog day, and go to the man who knows punxsutawney phil. >> disney is said to be close to a program agreement with federal litigation over technology. disney could receive compensation for technology known as auto hop that lets dish subscribers get commercials and broadcast shows that they regarded -- recorded. finishing the day down four percent, blame it on barbie. estimates from analysts, while hot wheels declined eight percent. the company reported profits that missed analyst estimates for mastercard. >> i want to go to washington dc where there has been a lot of news today, and i want to bring in our white house correspondent phil mattingly. i want to start with the keystone pipeline, tell us exactly what came out today? what did we learn? >> this was the final report from t

. >> the expect that yellen will be more likely to do that than bernanke was? >> i asked about the importance of the regulatory role. yellen is making commitments in the direction. if she sees a problem those with the tools are. >> that makes you hopeful? >> i'm more hopeful. look at the numbers. the big things are getting bigger and they are taking on more risk. our banking industry is becoming less diversified with every single day. we are losing smaller institutions. regional ones are being lost. we are ending up with these behemoths that radiate risk. >> you care a lot about transparency. you have introduced bills. you're worried about the fed reserve lacking transparency? are you hopeful that will change? >> well, one piece on transparency is a bill that was introduced recently. >> with two of the most unlikely co-sponsors. >> it is a reminder to find the things you agree upon. senator coburn has been out there for a decade fighting for more government transparency. i believe in more transparency. the issue we are focused on in this bill is a settlement whe

the u.s. public is divided in its opinion of bernanke. found 40% of americans approve of the way he handled his job, 35% disapprove. it's not as good as alan greenspan, retiring with a 65% approval in 2006. >> there has been a new break through for those suffering peanut allergies. >> we're going to talk about improving the quality of life for those affected. >> one hollywood star let and a controversial superbowl ad, pressure on scarlett johansson. >> great barrier reefs, risks to the national treasure. >> speaking of national treasures, quarterback peyton manning looking for a second superbowl ring sunday, going up against one of the nfl's young guns. we will preview the matchup. real reporting that brings you the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey

bernanke had to do that. the we shouldn't overdramatize how much sway, particularly paul volcker had, but volcker had epic battles with governors on his own board appointed by reagan. at one point he threatened to resign because these reagan appointees wanted fed to cutting rates and he didn't want to be doing it. he had epic battles with that fed. david: that is very interesting. this hasn't always been a chairman-dom neyed place. david: you brought up reagan. some people think if the economy does grow, even janet yellen saying the economy will likely grow above 3% than 2% next year the question whether growth immediately means inflation. >> yeah. david: under ronald reagan we saw growth go like gangbusters yet inflation came down. is it possible if we grow above 3% or even better than that we can keep inflation under control? >> that's what they're expecting at the fed. one reason for that is because there is what they call so much slack in the labor market. you don't see a lost wage pressure right now. it is e

and in his final scheduled public appearance as head of the fed, bernanke reflected on his eight dramatic years at the central bank and said the fed should give the economy the stimulus it needs during this tough recovery, even fit puts financial stability at risk. >> we're watching this very vigilantly. we've developed tremendous additional capacity for doing that. but at this point, we don't think that -- i think i can speak for my colleagues in this -- we don't think that financial stability concerns should at this point detract from the need for monetary policy accommodation. >> very interesting there. bernanke also recalled to the bookings institution in washington, d.c. what he called those very intense periods during the financial crisis, periods that he likened to trying to keep a car from going over a bridge after a collision. >>> it may be a tough year ahead for your grocery bills. that's because california where so much of the nation's food is grown and cattle are raised just wrapped up the driest year in its history. jane wells has more on what that drought may mean for your d

the fed? >> he is a real heavyweight. >> bernanke is a professor. it was a crisis fighter. e other two people nominated, one was renominated that is a republican. he has been very supportive of bernanke. there are bringing over another from the treasury. >> to the white house think the economy is fine now? >> it is the fist bumps in the handholding. >> yeah. >> this number was disappointing. it put pressure on the president as he looks at some of the economic proposals and this continued fight over extending unemployment benefits. >> does this threaten the fed's tapering effort? >> i do not think so. given the totality we have seen, the $10 trillion reduction in the next meeting. >> julianna, you mentioned the state of the union. any sense of what a major theme or themes will be? >> one thing the white house has been rolling out is the emphasis on income inequality. the haves have been doing well over the past years and the have-nots have not. that will be something they will push for. white house officials say it will be a mix of some new and some old proposals. what you wi

the line, i will intervene. let's start over there. for your speech, chairman bernanke. the fed acted aggressively to protect money market mutual fund investors from small negative return but equity investors took negative returns almost every day. in fact, they lost nearly 50% from the start of the crisis through 2009. should the fed have acted equally aggressively to buy up , or was it a big mistake to support the money market mutual funds. i have twooint out very distinguished colleagues who are all so happy, i am sure, to take any questions, particularly about production values. which, by the way, were led by the treasury department protect money market funds were not about the protecting of an investment of any individual or group. it was about avoiding precisely this issue. of af the key ideas financial crisis is a fire cell -- firesale mentality. enough liquidity not enough buyers in the short run, and we see reduced net holdersf other asset who in turn are forced to sell, and you get into a vicious cycle. the money market funds that were were held by broker deale

rick santelli. >>> when we come back, the end of an era. ben bernankefed chairmanship hits the homestretch. we'll have live coverage, of course, beginning around 11:00 a.m. right here on "squawk on the street." >>> lot of things dragging on the dow. unh not helping matters by any means even though they beat by a penny. enrollment is up, any thoughts? >> people are looking for the key ratio like net interest margin, how much you are losing on people or making on people. >> of course, it will be a big night for american express another component reporting after the bell. we'll get 6 in 60 with jim in just a moment. roof of insurance. that's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geico app. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little

probably the most important thing about the bernanke legacy is yet to come. and maybe we're seeing is t. volatility around that right now in the emerging market turbulence. carl? >> that was exactly what i was going to ask you, steve. we can debate the positive aspects and i see academics suggesting the qe is the equivalent of minus 2% on the main brenench rate but it's the cost we don't know. we don't know how getting out of this is going to upset everybody. >> that's right. the lags of monetary policy are long and variable. what ben nabernanke has done, t forward guidance, all of that is yet to play out in the economy. i think in general though history has judged the early parts of qe better. history judgment for the latter parts, yet to come. >> steve, thank you so much. steve liesman at hq. interesting figures. 40%, but that trough to peak, if you had bought, if you had been smart enough to buy, 135%. not much good action today as steve pointed out. dow is down 170. getting headlines out of the bank, i'm not sure that's what caused this to come off the lo

we talked about the cnbc 25. bernankeore influential in the 25-year span -- it's only 25 years you get to count. >> here is what one of the experts i talked to, i spent yesterday on the phone with all the leading guys in monetary policy in the country. they said bernanke changed central banking more in eight years than greenspan changed it in 18. >> i believe that's probably right. the question then becomes who had more influence on this 25-year period though. >> that becomes a mathematical thing. greenspan was around longer. one of the things that's -- >> voelker. >> he doesn't get a vote, joe. he's interesting to be out there in the peanut gallery, lobbing in his bombs. remember the list of things i put up there, the things that bernanke did, a lot of those are institutional changes, democracy, transparency. bernanke may have made the transition easier to yellen than greenspan, who came to personalize the federal reserve made it to bernanke. it's hard to say that on a day with all this market volatility. the transition

easier than the transition from greenspan to bernanke. 's much less of a charman-centric committee now and my guess is yellen runs it that way. >> on to the imf. what are they saying about the emerging markets, what are they likely to do? >> my guess is they're on the phone with some of the other countries advising best practices when it comes to these sorts of issues. it's interesting to think what those best practices are. they are calling for structural reforms which they have been calling for. there was a call to use the time created by qe to help internal domestic economies. not all of them did that. i think they are trying to urge calm and also trying to say these liquidity things that are going on in the developed countries, for example, the tapering in the united states, they need to be mindful of the effects on emerging markets. not sure what the fed would would differently. >> speaking of mindful, one must be mindful of the prospect of deflation because as pernicious as inflation is, deflation can be even more and more intractabl

period, as you go from the bernanke fed to the yellen said. -- fed.plain what they are expecting. .o explain the new developments i think there is a case for introducing additional guidelines, lowering the unemployment threshold in light of the new information. i don't think they're likely to do that at this point. i think it will be all more qualitative. we do need a significant amount of discussion and guidance. consumer,ed about the pricing, and business and companies. talk to me about wages. equity is rising in houses. you need more than that. you need real wages to improve. that is a baseline scenario for you. >> real income growth needs to improve. i think it will improve in 2014 relative to 2013. this year, we think real income will grow 3%. most of that acceleration comes from the fact that the tax hikes , which held income growth last year, are dropping out of the calculation or fade into the background. beyond that, we would expect a gradual acceleration in wage growth. very, veryhasize, gradual. i do not think that will happen quickly. that

federal reserve chairman departs the central bank on friday after eight turbulent years. ben bernankeas on the receiving end of one of the america's worst financial crisis erupted in 2007. his successor janet yellen will take over. we examine his legacy. >> the final few hours in charge of world's most influential bank. when ben bernanke was appointed. he had no idea a global financial meltdown was coming. an expert, he was a key player trying to stop another developingment he knew the things not to do. so i might not tell you what to do, but he could eliminate a bunch of disasers. he was the perfect man for the job. >> with the economy in trouble and credit freezing. banks in trouble, and urging congress to provide money to stop a collapse. with mooedest economic growth it looked as if he knew the way out. >> in retrospect. the financial crisis and the dysfunction of the housing market had been more severe and persistent than we initially believed. >> interest rates were pushed close to zero, then came quantitative hearing. it heaped the housing market lift the stocks and improve the

and another question is whether she continues ben bernanke's transparency policies at the fed. they didn't have those conferences before we've seen ben bernanke do it on a regular basis and we've seen bernanke telegraph more the direction the fed was going to go as not to spook the markets. big surprise back in september bernanke got sort of equal parts praise and criticism for that. i think one of the things people in washington are going to be looking for is whether or not janet yellen continues that transparency effort and if she does, does she tweak it at all. >> okay. forward guidance, we'll see. anyway, thanks very much eamon javers. we appreciate it. >> now, there's a huge polar vortex moving across the country. it's hitting the midwest, the northeast and even southern cities like atlanta are going to see temperatures in the single digits. that's where gabe gutierrez is for us this evening. good evening, gabe. >> reporter: hey there, larry. compared to some parts, we're down right toasty here in atlanta. this is something that people aren't used to. the city of atlanta an

the fed. this is ben bernanke's last meeting at the chair. about in 2006, alan greenspan left on a high in history has not been that kind. is ben bernanke going to be judged by the markets as he steps away? thatthink in some ways jury has to remain out because we only started on this road of tapering, nevermind trying to normalize rates which remain at historic lows. and the fed will be glad they have managed to get onto the road of slowing down asset purchases. they hope they can stick to it over this year because as a very unconventional monetary policy with some of these consequences we have been discussing, they will be relieved to no longer be using it. they can then start to focus on rates. i think he had to repair a lot of damage and address a very bad situation and it is coming out. >> the new one of coleman rate -- 6.5% unemployment rate seems to be pushed to the side. inflation is still too low. it is half of what it should be. >> even though growth has been robust and been improving to a large extent over the past year, the fed of

how the ipo market is evolving after a record year. plus... bernanke bids goodbye. traders read between the lines of a farewell speech. and... keeping your car in top shape, even when the weather is not so hot. that's all ahead on today's first business! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's monday january 6th, im chuck coppola. angela miles has the day off.in today's first look: it's the first full week of trading in the new year. last week trading volumes were light after heavy storms hit the northeast. friday the market got a last minute push from fed chariman ben bernanke, as he delivered comments in a q&a. the dow rose 29 points... the nasdaq fell 11, s&p down 1. gold was up 11 dollars and oil moved down a buck 27. traders tuned in as outgoing chairman bernanke defended his policies aimed at economic recovery which included a massive bond buying stimulus program. mr. bernanke also says he anticipates a stronger economy in 20-14. and tomorrow... president obama will host an event at the white ho