Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill this week, facing increasing pressure both from outside and inside the central bank to start the push for lower interest rates.
Powell’s semiannual testimony to Congress kicks off Tuesday morning, as the central bank leader presents the Fed’s monetary policy report to the House Financial Services Committee. He then heads to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
Generally, the congressionally mandated sessions allow the Fed chair to drop some basic comments about the state of the economy and monetary policy. Legislators then get a chance to ask questions, which occasionally can turn hostile but are rarely anything severe.
But the backdrop to this appearance is different: Not only President Donald Trump but also multiple White House officials have cranked up the heat on Powell to start lowering rates, and now he’s faced with two key Fed officials who have spoken out in recent days to say they likely will favor a cut as soon as July.
That combination of factors has Wall Street buzzing with the possibility that the normally politics-free Federal Open Market Committee is now seeing some of its protective cover erode.
