- Janet Yellen, Fed Chairwoman
Even though a number of economic indicators points at further strengthening of the U.S. economy in the months to come, the head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, said on Wednesday that she saw interest rates staying very low until the recovery is on a firmer footing and the nation's economy fully employs available workforce and other resources. She also highlighted that persistently low inflation is a more serious threat to the U.S. economy than rising prices, hinting that the Fed would be providing monetary stimulus in the foreseeable future.
In her second speech as the Fed head, Yellen was particularly cautious not to forecast when interest rates would rise from the current ultra-low level. Instead, she stressed that the decision would depend on the health of the labour market and how fast inflation moves towards the Fed's 2% goal. Yellen emphasized that even though the headline jobless rate has been falling, reaching 6.7% in March, other measures of the job market's health, including the number of people forced to apply for part-time work and the proportion of the population that has dropped out of the work force, all point to weakness. Following Yellen's speech the U.S. Dollar weakened versus most of its 16 major counterparts, losing 0.2% to $1.3840 per Euro and 0.3% to 101.94 yen.
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