Wow, Fed Chair Janet Yellen Really Doesn't Like to Talk to Reporters

There was nothing much of new monetary policy news from Fed chair Janet Yellen during her press conference today. It's clear she has no business cycle theory. She just watches the data and will print aggressively whenever the data weakens. What she will do, if a late-1970s scenario of higher inflation and higher unemployment develops at some time, is entirely unclear. My guess is she will lean towards more money printing until price inflation is way over 5%.

One interesting side note from the press conference is an indication that she is very uncomfortable talking to the press during these briefings.

I noted back in November:

Boy, would I love to play poker against Janet Yellen. She has one of the most obvious "tells" when she is under pressure.

Anyone watching her confirmation testimony, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs last week, should have picked it up within the first 30 minutes of her Q&A.

Whenever she faced a hostile question, she started her reply with "so". The "so" makes no grammatical or logical sense. But she did put it at the start of every hostile question. Mostly Republican questions. When she answered friendly questions, there was no "so".

During most of her questions from reporters today, she started with "so."