Things are looking up for Ben Bernanke, who takes his seat at the great oval table in the Federal Reserve boardroom on Wednesday for the concluding session of its January policy meeting. Thursday marks the first anniversary of his chairmanship and the news from the markets is good.

Reports prepared by the New York Fed and the Fed’s monetary policy division in Washington will show that in the past few weeks the bond market – which had been starkly at odds with the Fed over the outlook for the US economy – has thrown in the towel and largely fallen into line with the Fed’s more optimistic view on growth.