What time is Ben Bernanke’s Speech Tomorrow at Jackson Hole?

by David Jay on August 25, 2011

The market’s going crazy, but what time is the Bernanke speech?

I must have heard about the Ben Bernanke speech tomorrow at Jackson Hole about 1000 times.  CNBC reporters mention the Jackson Hole speech constantly, but no one has actually said the exact time of the Bernanke speech!  The Jackson Hole speech time is obviously critical for anyone who want to trade this event.  Find out about the exact time of the speech and other important economic data below.

Option trading around Ben Bernanke’s Speech

Short overnight option trades should definitely not be opened surrounding the speech because the market is too jittery.  Often after an anticipated announcement there is a drop in volatility. With the market jitters the volatility could go haywire and this would make option trades hazardous. For any directional traders the Bernanke speech could make an interesting intraday play straight after the speech.

Apart from Bernanke’s speech at Jackson Hole, there is other important economic data that will be released.  Tomorrow the GDP estimate will be released at 8.30 am before market open.  According to the Yahoo Economic Calendar this is rated “B” in terms of importance to market sentiment.

Then at 9.55 am just before Bernanke’s speech, the consumer confidence report comes out.  Yahoo rates this as a B- in importance.

Clearly tomorrow morning a lot of vital economic data is going to be released.  This will probably have a significant impact on the market.

Normally there are great option strategies using weekly options that can be opened overnight Thursday.  These option strategies take advantage of overnight time decay and the volatility plunge on expiration day.  Tonight is clearly not the night to open these short trades with the risk of the economic reports and Bernanke’s Jackson Hole Speech.

Jackson Hole, Ben Bernanke and Quantitative Easing (QE)

Regarding the Jackson Hole speech, one of the anticipated possible outcomes is the announcement of another round of “quantitative easing”.  What this actually means is that the Fed, led by Ben Bernanke, will create more money out of thin air.  This new money will then be used to buy financial assets from banks.

The intended effect is to decrease bond yields which has a several benefits.  The first is that it makes borrowing money cheaper, so this can stimulate business lending and fuel the economy.  The other effect is that with lower yields investors will shift more money into the stock market and increase the general population’s wealth.

Printing money, can’t that cause inflation?  Yep!  The idea of quantitative easing is to prevent deflation but it can backfire and lead to excessive inflation.

Tomorrow will definitely be an interesting day.  Best to stay on the sidelines overnight.

Trading earnings with options tomorrow

Regarding the profitable options earnings trades, these are usually less effected by the general market tone.  Tiffany and Co (TIF) is the only potential candidate for trading earnings today.  We will need to see closer to the close if this will make a good trade. Subscribers will receive their free options trade alert if it will make a good option trade.

So what time is the Bernanke Jackson Hole speech exactly?

Finally after a lot of searching I managed to find the actual timing of the Jackson hole Bernanke speech. So for all those of you that wanted to actually know the answer to: What time is Bernanke’s speech?




The answer:  10am on Friday tomorrow the 26th of August, Eastern Daylight Time.

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Where do you think the market will go?  Do you have any interesting trade ideas for tomorrow?  Share with us and post a comment below.


Tagged as: Ben Bernanke, ben bernanke speech time, Ben Bernanke's Speech, bernanke speech time, Jackson Hole, jackson hole speech time, what time does bernanke speak, what time is bernanke speech

  • http://blog.theoptionstradingcourse.com/ David Jay

    So place your bets! What will the market do tomorrow after the announcement? What trades are you planning to place?

  • Pingback: Time of Bernanke Speech at Jackson Hole Tomorrow | Option Trading Course

  • GilHerzberg

    I reckon this speech will influence the market considerably..leading to a full blown crash…

  • henry.januszewicz@baysidehaematology.com.au

    I am planning to go short SPY before speech. Staying out of the market tonight.

    • http://blog.theoptionstradingcourse.com David Jay

      Agreed, definitely stay out tonight. Tight stop loss tomorrow.

  • Mlleaver8

    I think it is likely that the market goes up; however, there is a 50% chance that it will decline.

    • Dem0critus

      Hold it one minute now, it’s likely that the market goes up, however there’s a 50% chance it will decline? Am I naive to assume that the application of the word “likely” to the chances that “the market” will go up implies that you believe there to be more than a 50% chance that the market will perform well?

      Personally, I think that Good ‘Ol Ben is about out of cards on this one. Last year during the same speech he announced QE II to solve the inflation issue, and look at us now: inflation in the US is HIGHER today than it was then.

      Bernanke mentioned a possible plan involving tax reform AND spending cuts, but with republicans absolutely refusing tax reform, and democrats not providing any reasonable amount of REAL spending cuts, you can go ahead and toss that one out the window.

      Many believe that our FED Chairman is going to try and calm the markets by reassuring investors that he has other “techniques” in his financial bag ‘o tricks that will pull us through this, without going much further: effectively kicking the can down the road. If he chooses this option, the only hope for the stock market is that investors actually buy it. And if it’s me buying U.S. treasury bonds, I’d be asking Benny B what his super secret plan was, and why the hell he’s waiting. In other words, it’s too little, too late.

      Nonetheless, you can bet that ‘Helicopter’ Ben is going to fill the air with a load of financial mumbo jumbo so he doesn’t have to take any action. Right now, the only REAL play we have is to kick the can down the road until the charade is up, and the house of fancy business cards comes down raging in all of the glory it is and ever was: paper.

      • Speedy8987

        QEII was to fight DEFLATION not inflation.

        • Dem0critus

          It was a typographical error, obviously it would be ridiculous to presume that pushing money into an economy will do anything but CREATE inflation. However, the purpose of QEII was NOT to “fight deflation”, but to boost the economy by inducing banks to increase lending by increasing the monetary base, by lowering long and intermediate term interest rates, and by building public confidence in the economy.

          The same kind of approach has been executed successfully by other countries in the past when they’re between an economical rock and a hard place. Since our government couldn’t agree on a plan that would cut spending and raise taxes enough to fix the budget problem, and that we don’t plan to default on the debt by any means what-so-ever, they really didn’t have much of a choice financially.

          The “tight rope act” that Bernanke was playing with this whole Quantitative Easing plan was to push enough money in to the economy to give it the boost it needed, without creating an unmanageable amount of inflation in the process.

          Yes, in 2009 there was an amount of ‘deflation’ due to falling energy prices, but Bernanke’s solution would be similar to killing a mosquito with a rocket launcher.

      • Speedy8987

        QEII was to fight DEFLATION not inflation.

    • Dem0critus

      Hold it one minute now, it’s likely that the market goes up, however there’s a 50% chance it will decline? Am I naive to assume that the application of the word “likely” to the chances that “the market” will go up implies that you believe there to be more than a 50% chance that the market will perform well?

      Personally, I think that Good ‘Ol Ben is about out of cards on this one. Last year during the same speech he announced QE II to solve the inflation issue, and look at us now: inflation in the US is HIGHER today than it was then.

      Bernanke mentioned a possible plan involving tax reform AND spending cuts, but with republicans absolutely refusing tax reform, and democrats not providing any reasonable amount of REAL spending cuts, you can go ahead and toss that one out the window.

      Many believe that our FED Chairman is going to try and calm the markets by reassuring investors that he has other “techniques” in his financial bag ‘o tricks that will pull us through this, without going much further: effectively kicking the can down the road. If he chooses this option, the only hope for the stock market is that investors actually buy it. And if it’s me buying U.S. treasury bonds, I’d be asking Benny B what his super secret plan was, and why the hell he’s waiting. In other words, it’s too little, too late.

      Nonetheless, you can bet that ‘Helicopter’ Ben is going to fill the air with a load of financial mumbo jumbo so he doesn’t have to take any action. Right now, the only REAL play we have is to kick the can down the road until the charade is up, and the house of fancy business cards comes down raging in all of the glory it is and ever was: paper.

  • Anonymous

    I heard an interesting trading theory regarding the Bernanke speech. If Ben walks to the speech podium with a thick folder it means you should short the market. On the other hand if Bernanke comes up to the podium with a thin folio then sentiment is positive and you should go long.

    Wouldn’t bet your house on it though!

    • leuc1ppus

      sick theory. got a link? I’m curious to see why one would think so, but for some reason I think you’re definitely on to something.

      • Anonymous

        No link, I heard it offline. Well we’ll see soon. Look out for Bernanke’s portfolio!

    • Mcclainku1

      either way it will be a thick folder… positive or negative… to much data and too much going on right now not too. These are not “normal” circumstances.

  • Chas21042

    Eastern Daylight Time, not Eastern Standard Time

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Chas. Corrected.
    Interested to hear what trades people are putting on.

  • SPARKEY

    HEY FUN SEEKERS, THE TIME ZONE THING CAN BE SOLVED SIMPLY BY SAYING THE FOLLOWING: “EASTERN TIME; CENTRAL TIME”; ET AL. USING THIS METHOD, ONE DOES NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE STUPID TIME CHANGE TWICE A YEAR.

  • Guest

    It’s not at Jackson Hole, it’s at Jackson.

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