Market Suffers From Too Much Information

Ben Bernanke is an avowed advocate of a more transparent Federal Reserve, and reactionary, anxious markets are the byproduct. Without the mysterious Alan Greenspan at the helm, the curtain has been pulled back on the Fed to reveal Bernanke as a clear, direct economist who admits he has no crystal ball. And the markets are left adrift at sea with no oars.

"Bernanke has been treating us like adults, but he's finding out we're really a bunch of children," says Ethan Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers. "Today will be another case where he probably didn't think he'd be hammering the stock market."

But that indeed was the consequence of Bernanke's inflation-fighting comments Monday at the International Monetary Conference in Washington, D.C. ...