Obama to reappoint Bernanke as Fed chief: official

U.S. President Barack Obama will reappoint Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, a senior administration official said on Monday.

Bernanke, whose four-year term as the head of the U.S. central bank is due to end next February, will also be praised by Obama for his handling of the financial crisis, the official said.

Bernanke, 55, was appointed by President George W. Bush to succeed Alan Greenspan and is a widely respected monetary scholar who has long called for a more open central bank.

In remarks prepared for delivery at an event in Massachusetts, where Obama is on vacation, the president will also say the U.S. auto industry is showing signs of life and the U.S. credit and housing markets have been saved from collapse, the official said.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Ross Colvin; Editing by John O'Callaghan)