“We have not made any decision about the March meeting,” Powell told the House Financial Services committee on Wednesday during his second day of testimony before Congress.take rates higher
than previously anticipated and that it could move at a faster pace if economic data keeps coming in hot. But on Wednesday he diverged slightly from his prepared remarks to qualify the statement by adding that “no decision” had been made. “If — and I stress that no decision has been made on this — but if the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we’d be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” he said.“We have some potentially important data coming up,” he said, referencing the latest reading on US job openings, released as the testimony began on Wednesday, as well as February’s employment report due Friday and consumer price data scheduled for release March 14.
The Fed began aggressively raising interest rates a year ago, bringing the target on its benchmark rate to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% in February. The central bank’s goal is to lessen demand for goods and services to cool price growth, but the US economy has been remarkably resilient to higher rates. Payrolls increased by more than 1 million in the three months through January, and recent
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