Federal Reserve Chair Powell is heading to Congress on Wednesday and Thursday to present one of his twice-a-year testimonies.
First up will be his appearance before the House Financial Services Committee on March 7:
- at 10 am Washinton time (US Eastern time)
- 1500 GMT
This is colloquially known as the Humphrey-Hawkins testimony. It’s a biannual report delivered by the Fed Chair to the Congress.
In it the Fed reports on its monetary policy and economic goals to the Congress.
Powell will:
- provide an overview of current economic conditions, and give an update of the Fed’s outlook for the economy, centring on an assessment of the inflation and employment outlook
- will discuss the Fed’s monetary policy position currently, including its changes in interest rates
- take questions from
thegeniuses inmembers of Congress, which will cover a range of topics across areas such as how specific economic sectors are faring, regulatory policies, and global economic issues
The recent messaging from Fed officials has been a watering down of rate cut expectations. At the turn into the new year these had reached insane calls for six, and even seven, FOMC rate cuts in 2024. The Fed hosed that down pretty quickly and has reiterated the message in recent weeks. Powell chimed in recently in a TV interview with comments on the danger of moving too soon, and too fast, saying the job of driving inflation down was not necessarily complete.