President Bush has nominated Ben Bernanke to replace the venerable Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. According to Bernanke, his main priority will be to “maintain continuity with the policies and policy strategies established during the Greenspan years.” That being said, Bernanke favors adopting formal inflation goals to help guide interest-rate policies, whereas Greenspan is opposed the setting of such targets, as they tend to restrict the Fed’s ability to act. Regardless of this difference in opinion, the stock market responded favorably to the news, notching its biggest one-day gain in six months. Greenspan, who is 79, is set to step down on January 31, 2006.

[Source: National Business Review]