Addressing Congress, Powell Defends Fed’s Hawkish Stance

Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the “costs of not getting inflation down will be extremely high”. FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell testifies on the Semi-annual Monetary Policy Report before the US House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

The US Dollar stays under modest bearish pressure during Powell’s testimony and the US Dollar Index was last seen posting small daily losses at 105.50.

Key Quotes

“US Dollar is only serious candidate for world’s reserve currency.”

“We can pay bills when we have negative income.”

“Inflation is coming down but it’s very high.”

“Some part of the high inflation we have is likely related to extremely tight labor market.”

“Every forecaster is baking in lower rent increases this year.”

“Costs of not getting inflation down will be extremely high.”

“Costs of failure to control inflation would be much higher than costs of controlling it.”

“Committed to bringing prices down.”

“A faster reopening from China could have offsetting effects on inflation.”

“China’s faster reopening could put upward pressure on commodities prices but also quicker healing of supply chains.”

“We expect China’s impact to be moderate overall.”