FEDERAL RESERVE: “Jerome H. Powell, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, painted an optimistic picture of the United States economy on Tuesday [2-27-18] and signaled that he will continue to bolster strong growth during testimony before Congress in his public debut as head of the central bank.
Mr. Powell, in remarks to the House Financial Services Committee, said the job market and business investment continued to strengthen, and that headwinds once holding back the American economy had now turned into tailwinds.
But he emphasized that he planned to continue the policies of his predecessor, Janet L. Yellen, who managed to gradually raise interest rates during her four-year term while still encouraging broad economic growth.
The Fed ‘will continue to strike a balance between avoiding an overheated economy’ and allowing inflation to tick up toward the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target, Mr. Powell said. ‘Further gradual increase in the federal funds rate will best promote attainment of both of our objectives,’ he added.
Mr. Powell, a member of the Fed’s board of governors who was sworn in as chairman earlier this month, faces two days of testimony before the House and Senate, his first public appearance in his new role.”
-Ana Swanson and Binyamin Appelbaum, “Fed Chair Powell Indicates He’ll Keep Bolstering Growth in Public Debut,” The New York Times online, Feb. 27, 2018