Bottomline is what they did back then did it save the system -- yes

Bottomline is, what they did back then, did it save the system -- yes Did it help -- yes. The group has been oversold recently and now there are people on the buy side."JOE SALUZZI, CO-MANAGER OF TRADING, THEMIS TRADING, CHATHAM, NEW JERSEY:"The market is holding and watching this very carefully. So far, he hasn't said anything surprising."The movement in the market today is being driven by trade in miners and the commodities space. Bernanke has done a job that few men could even have accomplished. You need the main actor here, the architect of the TARP, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson."PETER KENNY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KNIGHT EQUITY MARKETS, JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY:"I think that most of the Street is looking at the testimony and shaking their heads. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more finger-pointing in the next few years as people talk about which financial entity went bust first It does have a kind of a Watergate feel to it It's kind of overblown I don't know where this is going.

It seems to be the Republicans doing most of the aggressive questioning."There's no broad implication here for the markets about the credit easing. Not getting vote of confidence from the president yet, there's always been always a doubt in the market's mind that he could keep that option open for Summers should recovery not take hold."I think more people will come to Bernanke's defense because he has done the right things. by breaking the deal they were posing a risk to the system and he was, and we all know it. I think everyone knows the reality of the situation and it's not as clean-cut as you'd like it to be."I think there's a distinct concern ever since the election -- everyone widely believes his job was promised to Larry Summers -- but this is the type of environment that if you believe you have a good Fed chairman at the helm that he should be reappointed. He is parsing his words very very carefully."MIKE O'ROURKE, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BTIG, NEW YORK:"Everyone sees the reality through their own prism, and Chairman Bernanke is sticking to the point that... They were in the economic equivalent of a war and there was a lot of pressure to not have this deal unravel, not let the markets take it on the chin with a broken deal and key 'too big to fail' companies being in tatters It was a heated time.

I am certainly rooting for him because I think his track record overall has been excellent. That whole Bank of America thing smells a little funny, but we weren't in the back room over the weekend when all that went down. We were in extremely tenuous times at that point -- there was no confidence in the market. Those were weird times and everybody was nervous because we never did this stuff before and the implications could have been horrendous."DAVID DIETZE, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, POINT VIEW FINANCIAL SERVICES, SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY:"He appears to be handling the questions pretty well.

* The top Republican on the panel, Representative Darrell Issa, on Wednesday charged the Fed had covered up its involvement in the merger and "deliberately hid" important details from other federal regulators.COMMENTS:CUMMINS CATHERWOOD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BOENNING AND SCATTERGOOD, WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PENNSYLVANIA:"He's put a lot of miles on the vehicle in these last few months I don't know what to say except that it is part of the job He is absolutely a lightning rod for all of this stuff But that's what he signed up for Personally, I think he's done an OK job. Crisis in CreditKEY POINTS: * "Neither I nor any member of the Federal Reserve ever directed, instructed, or advised Bank of America to withhold from public disclosure any information relating to Merrill Lynch," Bernanke told the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee. [ID:nL91035246] (Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.6153 pound). NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday pushed back hard against accusations the Fed threatened Bank of America executives if they halted a merger with Merrill Lynch or pressured them to withhold bad news about the troubled investment bank. Saad was the largest investor in the housebuilder, holding astake of almost 29 percent at the end of April, before itstarted selling off its investment this month.