Powell's speech text was pre-released late yesterday and here were the highlights:
- economy expanding at its fastest pace in many years, labor market is strong - prepared remarks for reappointment confirmation hearing
- economy has rapidly gained strength despite ongoing pandemic, giving rise to elevated inflation
- strongly committed to achieving maximum employment, price stablity
- fed will use its tools to support economy, strong labor market, prevent inflation from becoming entrenched
- economy will be different following pandemic, fed must adapt to those changes
- I commit to meeting regularly with lawmakers
- committed to making decisions with objectivity, integrity, impartiality
So we're waiting for the Q&A: