Hourly Market Review - Mar 7, 2024 1 PM

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell concluded his two-day testimony before Congress, reiterating his expectation for interest rate cuts to occur this year. In his appearances before both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, Powell emphasized that the Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee is not yet convinced that progress toward their 2% inflation objective is assured. He stated that it would not make sense to cut interest rates until the committee is confident in this progress.

Powell also noted that inflation has notably eased over the past year without any significant spikes in unemployment, and that the labor market remains relatively tight despite an increase in available workers due to surging immigration. His testimony was consistent with the messages that the public has heard from Federal Reserve officials following the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting.

The focus is shifting towards the February Nonfarm Payrolls data due on Friday. This shift comes after two job market reports earlier this week, January job openings and February ADP private payrolls, both fell short of expectations, indicating a potential softening in the labor market. These reports contributed to a decrease in the 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield, which reached lows not seen since mid-February.