This Week's Fedspeak Calendar Is Loaded

REUTERS/US Federal ReserveNew U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (R) joins the Board of Governors attending the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, March 28, 2006.Heads up! This week's calendar is littered with Fedspeak: 11 speeches in total from Federal Reserve governors and presidents, which will likely be watched closely by market participants, as almost all of them include Q&As.

"Look for some back-tracking on their recent decision not to taper," says Tom Di Galoma, managing director at ED&F Man Capital. "Would expect some press pieces this week with unnamed Fed officials indicating tapering may be closer than we think."

Friday, Fed observers heard two interesting speeches from voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's monetary policymaking body.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard introduced what may come to be known as the "Bullard Rule," an option for tweaking the central bank's current forward guidance on the path of short-term interest rates by setting a floor for inflation that may be deployed in the coming months.

Then, Esther George - the lone dissenter in last week's shocker FOMC decision to refrain from tapering quantitative easing - blasted the move, hinting that it undermines the central bank's credibility.

Below is this week's Fedspeak calendar (all times ET):

Monday, 9/23, 9:20 AM: Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart speaks to the Blouin Creative Leadership Summit at the Metropolitan Club in New York.

Monday, 9/23, 9:30 AM: New York Fed president William Dudley speaks to the Fordham Wall Street Council in New York. Q&A expected.

Monday, 9/23, 1:30 PM: Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher speaks at the Independent Bankers Association of Texas Annual Convention in San Antonio about banking conditions in Texas and the U.S. and comments on Too Big to Fail. Q&A expected.

Tuesday, 9/24, 9:30 AM: Cleveland Fed president Sanda Pianalto speaks at the Chicago Fed's Payments Symposium.

Tuesday, 9/24, 1:00 PM: Kansas City Fed president Esther George will give an introduction to a keynote speech by Boston Consulting Group's Carl Rutstein at the Chicago Fed's Payments Symposium.

Thursday, 9/26, 10:10 AM: Fed governor Jeremy Stein gives a speech titled: "Yield-Oriented Investors and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism" at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Q&A expected.

Thursday, 9/26, 12:15 PM: Minneapolis Fed president Narayana Kocherlakota will speak ona topic to be decided to the Houghton Rotary. Q&A expected.

Thursday, 9/26, 9:15 PM: Kansas City Fed president Esther George speaks on the U.S. economy at the Colorado Economic Forum. Q&A expected.

Friday, 9/27, 5:45 AM, 10:15 AM: Chicago Fed president Charles Evans speaks on current economic conditions and monetary policy at the Norges Bank conference in Oslo, Norway. Q&A expected.

Friday, 9/27, 8:30 AM: Boston Fed president Eric Rosengeren will give opening remarks at a conference on stable funding at the New York Fed.

Friday, 9/27, 2:00 PM: New York Fed president William Dudley speaks on the U.S. economy in Syracuse. Q&A expected.