Weekly Market Commentary 07/20/2018

Fed Chair Jerome Powell trekked up to Capitol Hill this week and delivered on successive days the semiannual update on monetary policy to the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees. His testimony contained few surprises, reiterating statements he had made before as well as the key message conveyed at the mid-June policy meeting. Nor did the legislators instigate any explosive confrontations in the Q&A session; indeed, they appeared to be highly receptive to Powell’s brand of straight talk, which contrasts sharply with the more academically inclined presentations of previous Fed chairs.