Fed Preps for Rare Presser

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The Federal Reserve is doing some careful stage planning for its first-ever public news conference Wednesday afternoon following a two-day policy meeting.

Details that would be extremely mundane for most other institutions—such as who gets in, how Chairman Ben Bernanke should kick things off, and how questions will be asked—have potentially market-moving importance in this instance. Analysts and traders on Wall Street have been scrambling to find out what to expect.

"People are trying to get their arms around the whole thing," said David Greenlaw, chief U.S. economist with Morgan Stanley. He has quizzed colleagues who follow the European Central Bank, which, like other central banks, has held news conferences for years, to understand how it might unfold.

One wrinkle is Mr. Bernanke's opening statement. When he stands before reporters Wednesday at 2:15 p.m., a little less than two hours after the policy making Federal Open Market Committee releases its statement, Mr. Bernanke will likely make only a brief opening comment before jumping into questions. The goal is to kick things off without a long monologue that might stray or distract from what the FOMC has said.

"Any time he opens his mouth it could be a market mover, so the opening statement could be important," Mr. Greenlaw said. "If he says anything different than what they have in the official statement, it is another potential market mover."

Mr. Bernanke will try to focus on summing up the decision and thinking of the broad consensus of the FOMC, which consists of 12 regional Fed bank presidents and the current five Fed board governors, rather than his own thoughts. In all, he'll talk for roughly 45 minutes, maybe a bit longer.

The small details "matter because we don't really know what to expect," said David Resler, chief U.S. economist for Nomura Securities. "It is going to set the precedent for what happens going forward."

Who gets in requires advanced planning, too. There isn't a hedge-fund manager who wouldn't like to be there, nor a fair share of financial bloggers. To keep the event manageable, Fed officials will limit attendance to those who represent news organizations accredited by Congress and only one per organization. That leaves it open to potentially hundreds of news organizations, including U.S. newspapers, foreign press, television, radio stations and magazines.