The Federal Reserve “will probably raise interest rates sometime this year,” Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen told a House panel Wednesday.
Presenting the Federal Reserve’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress, Ms. Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee that “prospects are favorable for further improvement in the U.S. labor market and the economy more broadly.”
Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, called on the Federal Reserve to be more predictable about monetary policy. “Today we’re left with so-called ‘forward guidance,’ which unfortunately remains somewhat amorphous, opaque and improvisational,’’ he said at the hearing.
Ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., urged Ms. Yellen to move cautiously on raising the federal funds rate. “As you know, raising rates does not itself create a strong economy; it is a strong economy that must be the impetus for raising rates,” Ms. Waters said.