Financial markets experienced a few tumultuous days of trading after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress this week, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Triple-digit gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned negative at one point.

Bernanke must be thinking: “Was it something I said?”

In the midst of heightened concern over the hazards of overreaching government agencies, this may be a propitious moment to review the Fed’s outsize role in determining the price and availability of capital.