Bernanke will have his first news conference next Wednesday following the release of the FOMC statement. His first news conference is also a first for the Federal Reserve, who in the past has opted for prepared statements and mandatory questionings on Capitol Hill.

It’s difficult to judge what exactly will happen. The ECB does press conferences following their meetings, so in a sense our Fed is following their lead in being more transparent, but the change comes at an interesting time. QE2 is currently scheduled to end in late June, and the market expects the committee’s statement to reiterate their stance on ending the buying as scheduled. Any change there would be a huge shock, but the format of the post statement press conference opens the Fed Chairman up to more scrutiny when he has to answer questions on the fly.

Despite being questioned more nowadays, the Fed operates with a great deal of credibility. But this latest move down in the dollar index in the face of mounting Euro problems might be a sign that confidence in the Fed is fading fast. Is this move toward post meeting press conferences an attempt to reestablish some lost credibility? What if it backfires? The market will be working hard to dissect his every word to try and find any hints of the Fed’s next move.

Have a great weekend.