Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will hint that the central bank could increase the pace of interest rate hikes if data indicate price pressures continuing, according to a prepared statement shared ahead of his congressional testimony on Tuesday.
"If the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes," he will say. "Restoring price stability will likely require that we maintain a restrictive stance of monetary policy for some time."
Powell acknowledged that inflation has slowed since the middle of last year but remains above the FOMC committee's longer-run objective of 2 percent. He also noted that there has been "little sign of disinflation thus far in the category of core services excluding housing, which accounts for more than half of core consumer expenditures."
Bringing down inflation in core services will likely require softening in the labor market, according to the Federal Reserve chair. Powell noted that nominal wage gains have slowed recently, but remain "above what is consistent with 2 percent inflation and current trends in productivity."
Repeating a common refrain from the nation's top banker, he said, "Strong wage growth is good for workers but only if it is not eroded by inflation."
Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, is expanding nationwide its health care coverage next month for employees who want to enlist the services of a doula, a person trained to assist women during pregnancies.
A group of 33 states including California and New York are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people’s mental health and contributing the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
In a courtroom showdown five years in the making, Donald Trump's fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen testified Tuesday that he worked to boost the supposed value of the former president's assets to “whatever number Trump told us to."
Federal authorities have released more details and unsealed charges in the theft of more than 2 million dimes earlier this year from a tractor-trailer that had picked up the coins from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
