This week, the New York Stock Exchange is paying attention to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s attendance in Congress and his February employment report.
According to Market Watch on the 5th (local time), the three major indexes of the New York Stock Exchange showed an upward trend last week.
Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.74 percent, marking the first rise in five weeks. The S&P 500 Index rose 1.90% on a weekly basis for the first time in four weeks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 2.58 percent on a weekly basis.
Fed Chairman Powell’s attendance in Congress is expected to have a big impact on the stock market this week.
Chairman Powell will attend the Senate on the 7th and the House of Representatives on the 8th to report his half-year monetary policy. The Fed chairman should appear in Congress once every half-year to testify about monetary policy and economic conditions.
Powell said at a press conference held after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting in February, “Disinflation (relaxation of inflation) has begun,” raising expectations for a shift in monetary policy.
However, since then, economic indicators such as employment and consumption have been announced to suggest that inflation is still exerting power, raising concerns that the tightening trend will continue for a while.
As a result, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose more than 4%, lowering stock prices. The market turned upward again as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell below 4% again, but experts warn that interest rates on government bonds could rise again if concerns over a rate hike grow again.
Recently, the market seems to be in confusion over the range of interest rate hikes to be decided at the FOMC regular meeting in March. With even Fed officials offering mixed opinions over whether it is 0.50 percentage point or 0.25 percentage point, the market trend is expected to change depending on Powell’s remarks.
On the 10th, the February employment report will be released. In a January employment report, non-agricultural employment increased by 517,000, far exceeding market expectations of 187,000 people. The stock market fluctuated greatly on concerns that the Fed’s tightening stance would continue as employment indicators far exceeded market expectations.
