Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
In prepared testimony, Powell told senators that inflation has improved in recent months but that the case for cutting rates would strengthen once more and better data becomes available.
“Further and better data will strengthen our confidence that inflation is sustainably heading toward 2 percent,” Powell said.
“While we saw little progress toward our 2 percent inflation objective early this year, recent monthly data suggest further moderate progress,” the Fed chairman said.
He also said, “higher inflation is not the only risk we face.”
“Reducing policy restraints too late or not enough could weaken economic activity and employment excessively,” Powell added.
The Fed chairman’s testimony comes ahead of the release of the latest inflation data on Thursday and Friday.
His comments suggest the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is likely to keep interest rates unchanged when it meets on July 30-31.
The U.S. central bank has kept interest rates unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% for almost a year, the highest level in more than 20 years.
“Reducing policy restraints too late or not enough could weaken economic activity and employment excessively,” Powell added.
The Fed chairman’s testimony comes ahead of the release of the latest inflation data on Thursday and Friday.
His comments suggest the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is likely to keep interest rates unchanged when it meets on July 30-31.
The U.S. central bank has kept interest rates unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% for almost a year, the highest level in more than 20 years.
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US stocks
U.S. stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before Congress.
As of 10:05 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 147.89 points, or 0.38%, to 39,196.90, the S&P 500 was up 11.96 points, or 0.21%, to 5,584.81 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 86.31 points, or 0.47%, to 18,490.05.
Shares of semiconductor giant Nvidia rose 4%, while Applied Materials and Micron Technology rose 2% and 3%, respectively.
Chipmaker Intel rose 3.5%, following a 6.2% rise on Monday.
Meta Platforms and Amazon.com shares rose 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively.
Salesforce shares fell 2 percent.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.31% from Monday’s close of 4.28%.
