Highlights from Powell's opening statement

Highlights from Powell's opening statement
  • Indicators of activity and employment continue to improve
  • Household spending is rising at a rapid pace
  • Business investment is increasing at a solid pace
  • Overall unemployment remains well below pre-pandemic
  • Factors weighing on employment growth should wane in the coming months
  • Inflation has increased 'notably' and to remain elevated
  • Seeing upward price pressures from rebound in spending
  • There's a possibility that inflation pressures could be persistent
  • If we saw signs that the path of inflation was moving persistently above goal, we would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy
  • Bottlenecks putting upward pressure on inflation have been larger than anticipated
  • Whenever liftoff comes, policy will remain highly accommodative
  • Liftoff will mean the economy is strong
  • Reaching the standard of 'substantial further progress' is 'still a ways off'

The 5-year note yield is now up 10 bps to 0.88% on the day. That's a strong signal about how surprised the market is by this.