Stock markets opened higher on Tuesday morning, even as one Federal Reserve official commented that while some conditions have improved, the crisis is not over.
"I believe that conditions are now calmer but it is too soon to breathe easy," said Dennis Lockhart, President of the Boston Federal Reserve, in opening remarks to a conference in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
All three major indexes opened higher on Tuesday. However, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq each fell into negative within the first 15 minutes of trading.
Lockhart made no comments on monetary policy, inflation, or the housing market, but he expressed a a belief in the ability of regulatory reform to help the financial world move ahead.
His comments follow Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech from Monday night. Bernanke commented that undercapitalized banks’ efforts to raise fresh funds has been “encouraging.” He also warned against viewing the Stress Tests as a final barometer, and told banks to continue monitoring liquidity risks in the months ahead.
“Ideally, the stress tests used in the assessment program should be part of a broader palette of internal stress tests conducted by firms,” Bernanke said. “Indeed, we do not intend that the capital assessments should be taken as all that those firms need to do.”
Boston Fed President is also speaking as part of a panel Tuesday morning, but no comments have yet to be released.