Bernanke Cancels Jackson Hole Appearance Four Months Out Due To 'Personal Scheduling Conflict'

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke won't be attending the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in August due to a "personal scheduling conflict."

The event, held by the Kansas City Fed every summer in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, usually features a keynote speech from the Chairman of the Fed.

In recent years since the financial crisis of 2008, the speech has been used to signal important monetary policy shifts as the Fed has experimented with unconventional monetary policy tools.

As MNI's Steven Beckner points out, ECB President Mario Draghi broke tradition when he skipped the meeting last year in order to put the finishing touches on the ECB's "OMT" bond buying program, which was unveiled shortly thereafter.

However, given that the symposium is a Fed-sponsored event and Bernanke is missing it due to a personal conflict, the news still seems a bit strange.