US Fed Chair Powell Testifies on Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 at 15:00 GMT.

Last week, Wall Street experienced a highly volatile day following the publication of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes (a detailed record of the committee’s policy-setting (FOMC) meeting held about two weeks before).

Hints at further interest rate hikes were thick!

The new Fed Chair Jerome Powell has taken office just after the latest meeting, and he will provide testimony on monetary policy before the House Financial Services and the Senate Banking Committees this Tuesday.

What do you think?

Will Powell confirm the FOMC agenda? Or will traders be disappointed and send the USD lower?

Monetary Policy Outlook for 2018

The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) has revised upwards the economic outlook made in December and now expects a stronger growth for the US economy.

This expectation is thanks to tax cuts, an increase in consumer spending and higher confidence. Nonetheless, a stronger growth may lead inflation to go over the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve.

Markets had mixed reactions to the hawkish (aggressive) stance of the Federal Reserve. The USD shot higher, together with US Treasury yields, before retreating, whilst stock markets dropped.

But how will markets react to the new Fed Chair’s testimony?