Video: Bernanke: New Fed economic projections will come soon

>>> the markets are reacting after ben bernanke 's testimony. it surged 286 points yesterday. that by the way the biggest gain of the year so far. the dow has rebounded after falling. bernanke said, the fed is prepared to take action to lift the economy but would not beyond that give any specifics.

>> if we determine that further action is at least potentially warranted, obviously we have a number of different options that we would have to consider each of them and to costs and benefits associated with them. at this point i can't say that anything is completely off the table.

>> joining me now, "newsweek" columnist and kelly o'donnell. first let's start. we were expecting some real lawmakers. republicans seem to be gnawing at the bit to get at ben bernanke . we didn't see a lot of that and he didn't answer questions specifically.

>> reporter: we would speck there might be that political overtone and that's what people are looking for. one of the issues would be, could there be another type of stimulus that might be perceived as a means to help president obama if it were in fact to help the country to improve its economy before the election. so that flach of conversation, he said nothing off the table but as you pointed out, no specifics. he was asked about the comparison that is often put in political terms about greece and its problems. and he was very clear about while the country could be affected, by what is happening in europe , that greece is in a far more dire circumstance. he was very understated when he said the u.s. is not in that dire shape. but there could be that impact from what is happening elsewhere in the world and citing the warm he weather in the year and some of the hiring that appeared to have been done earlier. a real question is will that continue or will it be sort of offset because there had been so much layoffs and so much of a reduction in the work force prior to that. there are different steps in terms of policy they could create to try to improve things but it is expected that when you're talking about the federal reserve chairman speaking to both house members and senate members, people watch very carefully. he was calm, even hand and the questioning did not get too firy. there was certainly wide concern about which direction the country is going economically and he certainly signaled there are reasons to still be concerned about the rate of growth.

>> he signaled the housing market looks to be stabilizing.

>> he talk about that as one of the real factors that has been, and we all see it in terms of in your own neighborhoods where you see, are you in a zone where there has been a lot of foreclosures? are prices coming up? different part of the country responding differently. he pointed to that as having been a real drag on the economy. and seeing a brighter spot there. as far as interest rates he said they've been low and mortgage rates have been low and it has not produced as much of an uptick in the economy as they had hoped. it will do more in the next meeting? that remains unclear. buying bonds could drive money into the market. all of that will be watched very carefully. the flurry of seemingly positive activity so far may be a send that people found some sort of reinsurance in what the fed chair was about today.

>> let me bring in zachary here. 286 points yesterday. this after a pretty bad friday with the jobs report we saw. ben bernanke said the europe debt crisis posed significant risk to the u.s. economy and the financial markets . we don't have to be at his stature to know that. we know it is all connected. what impression do you have of his remarks that everything is on the table?

>> well, having learned from central bank chiefs in years past, the ever scintillating ben bernanke said, if you were to parse through his two hours of testimony, almost absolutely nothing in the sense of, he simply reaffirmed if things get bad, the fed has certain tools. they're very concerned about what's going on in umpl they're not as concerned about what's going on in the united states . at least until the jobs situation turned negative for months on end or we have real, real indications that whatever this kind of anemic but stable economy was getting worse, their concern is europe . and obviously that's not something they'll make this huge deal of in a public congressional testimony.

>> what do you make of also, i don't want to say he didn't refuse but he did not give specifics here. at this point when you're in front of lawmaker, people want to hear specifics and not this broad everything is on the table. to be honest with you, everything should have always been on the table.

>> that's why he essentially did not say much. part of this is a timing issue and an inside baseball issue. the fed's meetings aren't until later in the month. he as chairman is listening to what the official have been saying. they'll have a meeting and decide on policy.

>> what do you think we'll see?

>> i think it depends on europe . i think if the u.s. economy stays about where it is, they're likely not to want to do anything them don't want markets to get addicted to fed policy but if the european banking situation deteriorates and there's real evidence of strain on the american system , they will certainly quote/unquote flood the system with money. so it is all up in the air right now.

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