During a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Powell admitted that it is appropriate to consider normalizing ultra-accommodative monetary policy at the upcoming meeting, given that the economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are higher. The Chair also said that it’s time to stop using the word “transitory” to describe inflation and that the recent emergence of the omicron variant poses “downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation". The Fed decided on November 3rd to begin reducing the monthly pace of its net asset purchases by $10 billion for Treasury securities and $5 billion for agency mortgage-backed securities completing the process in mid-2022. The next policy meeting is set for December 14-15th.