Manufacturing Continued to Improve in February

Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and other members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report. At the Federal Reserve, we are strongly committed to achieving the monetary policy goals that Congress has given us: maximum employment and price stability. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have taken forceful actions to provide support and stability, to ensure that the recovery will be as strong as possible, and to limit lasting damage to households, businesses, and communities. Today I will review the current economic situation before turning to monetary policy. tweet at 10:01am: Fed Chair Powell: -Long way from policy goals, further progress to take some time -Developments point to improved outlook later this year -Vaccines should help speed of return to normalcy -Spending on services still low, but has picked up on goods $USD $SPX $NDX $TNXPowell says inflation is still ‘soft’ and the Fed is committed to current policy stance Inflation and employment remain well below the Federal Reserve’s goals, meaning easy monetary policy is likely to stay in place, central bank Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday. Despite a sharp rise this year in bond yields that has accompanied heightened concern over inflation, Powell said price pressures remain mostly muted and the economic outlook is still “highly uncertain.” “The economy is a long way from our employment and inflation goals, and it is likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be achieved,” the Fed chief said in prepared remarks for the Senate Finance Committee. He added that the Fed is “committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy and to help ensure that the recovery from this difficult period will be as robust as possible.” However, the speech did not mention the mar