I listened to almost the entire interview with Bernanke. My personal feeling is that the FED is too optimistic in its projections. Bernanke kept pointing to the housing market to justify the FED's optimism. I hate to agree with Peter Schiff who I consider just a celebrity monger, but it can certainly be argued that the housing "rebound" is more a function of speculator demand than it is of a fundamental shift. This is what we're seeing here in California. I don't know about the rest of the country.
Manufacturing remains in the dumps and no real signs that unemployment is getting better. Bernanke didn't specify what the FED would do, if his projections on economic growth and inflation growth don't materialize. (I don't think that they will.) Over and over he emphasized that FED policy going forward will be based on the data. There are no hard limits and no "trigger points."
The policy remains "accommodative." I don't know why the Markets are so cranky.
Bill Gross (to no one's surprise, I guess) is buying bonds again. Obviously, he agrees with me that the FED projections are too optimistic.