Second term for Fed chief

       Praising him as the man who shepherded the United States past the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama yesterday proposed a second term for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
       "Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outsidethe-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall,"Mr Obama said.
       The widely expected move had no significant impact on financial markets in Asia and Europe, with investors more focused on whether a global economic recovery was really under way.
       Mr Bernanke, whose appointment to a new four-year term must be confirmed by the Senate, has pushed US interest rates to near zero and flooded financial markets with hundreds of billions of dollars to stem a credit crisis and turn back recession.
       Investors have given Mr Bernanke,whose current term expires on Jan 31,2010, high marks and had widely anticipated his reappointment, although an announcement was not expected until later this year.
       Analysts suggested that Mr Obama was aiming for stability by moving up the announcement.