Obama says Bernanke is doing good but does not comment on reappointment

Obama: Bernanke doing good job

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is doing a fine job under difficult circumstances but he declines to say whether he will reappoint the chairman in January.

Obama said he would not make news about Bernanke at a White House press conference Tuesday. He said the Fed could have done a better job anticipating systemic risk in markets.

But he said the Fed probably performed better than most U.S. financial regulators did before the nation’s economic crisis hit last year.

Obama said a newly created consumer financial protection agency will let the Fed focus on issues of broader systemic risk in the U.S. economy.