Bulls Put Faith in Bernanke

The stock market is pricing in reassurance from the Federal Reserve.

After selling off most of the day on a decline in new-home sales and rising oil prices, the major indices staged a comeback, ending the day in the green, save for a small decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It's as if traders looked at the calendar and saw Ben Bernanke on the docket Wednesday and breathed a sigh of relief.

The Fed chairman testifies Wednesday before the Joint Economic Committee. After surprising the markets with last week's move to a more neutral stance regarding future policy decisions, Bernanke is likely be reassuring about the economic outlook. That is, unless he wants investors to think he's worried about a recession. ...