May CPI And Housing Starts Rise Ahead Of Fed Meeting

Obama may be looking for a new chairman of the Federal Reserve. Obama said in an interview Monday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed in his post longer than he wanted, a signal that the central bank chief will leave when his current term expires next year.“Ben Bernanke’s done an outstanding job,” Obama said in an interview with Charlie Rose, when asked about nominating him for another term subject to Senate approval. “He’s already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to.”All eyes are on Bernanke this week as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets June 18-19. Investors fear that the central bank may begin scaling back its bond-buying program after Bernanke in May said that the central bank could possibly begin to downsize its program in the next few meetings if the economy sees enough improvement. The two-day Fed meeting will end on Wednesday with a press briefing and economic forecast from Bernanke.On the economic calendar, housing starts rose less than expected in May, while consumer prices edged up last month. Housing starts rose 6.8 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000 units, according to the Commerce Department, missing expectations for a 950,000-unit rate. Consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent in May, according to the Labor Department, while consumer prices outside of food and energy rose 0.2 percent last month. In company news, Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:ADBE) is gearing up to report second-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. Analysts polled by Thompson Reuters forecast the company to report FY 2013 Q2 EPS of 34 cents on revenue of $1.01 billion, compared with a profit of 60 cents a share on revenue of $1.12 billion a year earlier.