Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Reserve, said he will stay on the course laid out by his predecessor Janet Yellen and continue to raise interest rates while allowing its balance sheet to gradually shrink. “We expect interest rates to rise somewhat further and the size of our balance sheet to gradually shrink,” Powell said in his opening statement for his confirmation hearing set for Tuesday. The statement was released late Monday afternoon by the Federal Reserve. Powell said the Fed’s aim was to sustain a strong jobs market with inflation moving gradually up toward the central bank’s ... (full story)