CCTV Script 27/2/13
This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on February 27, 2013.
"Welcome to CNBC business daily.
US markets got a lift from Ben Bernanke overnight .
The Fed chief strongly defended the central bank's monetary stimulus before Congress, assuring markets it was not about to take away the punch bowl.
He said its aggressive program was supporting the recovery and would help rapid job creation.
Bernanke also urged lawmakers to avoid the sequester cuts looming at the end of the week and find a plan to reduce the deficit.
Some analysts told CNBC that they expect the Fed to remain dovish in the short term.
[Sound on tape by Andy Cross, CIO, The Motley Fool: I think what the Chairman said, is that we will continue with the program that they put in place. That really bodes well for the markets.]
[Sound on tape by Sam Chandan, President & Chief Economist, Chandan Economics: We have got to anticipate that while rates are very, very low now, over the course of the next couple of years, those are going to go up, so your positioning in the bond market in terms of your time horizon becomes very, very important here.]
[Sound on tape by Ed Ponsi, Managing Director, Barchetta Capital Management: When Bernanke said that they would vary the size of QE going forward, everyone looked at that in one way: Well that means we're going to phase it out.But theoretically, if things got ugly, they can always increase QE - they could bump it up to 100 billion a month.]
[Sound on tape by Kelvin Tay, Regional Cio, Southern APAC, UBS Wealth Management: Remember that when they set the program last year, there was no limit and no timeline in sight, and therefore, if they don't meet the unemployment targets, they're likely to actually continue with the program.]
And it was not just the domestic economy that lawmakers were worried about; Bernanke was also quizzed on the recent developments in Italy.
CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera has the details.
The situation in Italy is so concerning to global investors that even Ben Bernanke was asked about it when he testified in front of Congress. And his response made clear he had spent some time trying to understand the very complicated political system here, and just how much exposure US banks have to Italian debt.]
He says in the worst case scenario, if there were a write-down, it might be meaningful but it wouldn't be a completely disastrous situation for the US financial system.
The reason he and everyone else cares about the Italian elections is because Italy has so much debt - they owe the world more than 3 trillion dollars, and their economy isn't growing fast enough right now to pay it back. Can it ever grow fast enough to pay it back?
They need leadership in charge to make changes to the economy so they can do just that. And with this inconclusive outcome to the elections that day gets farther and farther away.
I'm Michelle Caruso-Cabrera in Rome. Back to you.]
Li Sixuan, from CNBC's Asia headquarters."