Live Blog: Yellen’s Confirmation Hearing

Gabriella Demczuk/The New York Times Janet L. Yellen, the president’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, visited with lawmakers last week.

Janet L. Yellen, the vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, goes before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. on Thursday in a hearing on her nomination to succeed Ben S. Bernanke as Fed chief. We’re live blogging the proceedings here.

As our correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum notes, the hearing is “mostly a chance for senators to probe what kind of leader she will be” â€" but also offers a window on the Fed’s direction, recent and future, on both monetary policy and financial regulation. In her opening statement, released by the Fed on Wednesday, Ms. Yellen makes the case for the Fed’s current stimulus program, declaring, “I believe that supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy.”

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9:56 A.M. Hopeful Signs on Economy

Just how strong an economy will Ms. Yellen inherit if she wins confirmation, as is widely expected, and takes over the Fed early next year?

Until last week, there was wide speculation that another swoon was in the offing, one of many troughs in the up-and-down pattern that has persisted over the four-year recovery.

Of course, two data points don’t make a trend, but better-than-expected figures for growth in gross domestic product and job creation late last week surprised the experts. The numbers also gave rise to hope that the economy didn’t take as big a hit as feared from last month’s government shutdown, and might be shaking off the drag from spending cuts and tax hikes earlier in the year.

If that is the case, it would give Ms. Yellen something of a honeymoon after years of criticism that the Fed’s huffing and puffing wasn’t doing much for the broader economy. â€" Nelson D. Schwartz

9:51 A.M. How to Answer Without Answering

At the DealBook conference at The New York Times this week, Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, was asked about what was likely to unfold at Thursday’s hearing. He offered this observation: “The correct answers in hearings are usually ‘Thank you, Senator, for that good question,’ or ‘I look forward to working with your staff, Senator, on that question.’ And I think she’ll be in that camp.”