• US stocks rose on Wednesday as investors took in Powell’s remarks on rates of interest.

• Rates could come down “significantly” over the following couple of years, the Fed chief said.

• Nonetheless the trail of rates of interest will depend on whether inflation continues to relax.

US stocks rose on Wednesday as markets took in Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress, during which the chief central banker said the central bank stays to be taking a have a look at rate cuts in 2024.

All three benchmark indexes rose, while bond yields were barely lower.

The US stays to be on a “good path” to a soft landing, Powell said, a scenario where inflation falls to the Fed’s 2% goal without the economy slipping right right into a recession.

“We expect inflation to return back down, the economy to proceed to grow … if that’s the case, it must be appropriate for rates of interest to return back down significantly over the approaching years,” Powell said through the primary day of his testimony to Congress.

Markets appeared to shrug off the Fed chair’s more hawkish comments, as he also noted that inflation falling to 2% still shouldn’t be a sure thing.

“The Fed can afford to take a seat down on higher rates until the labor market starts to crack,” Jamie Cox, a managing partner at Harris Financial Group, said in a press release on Wednesday.  “Maximum employment is the stronger of the two mandates for rate cuts, and there isn’t a there, there to force cuts at this point.”

Some investors, though, are still betting on aggressive rate cuts by the tip of the 12 months. Markets are pricing in a 51% likelihood the Fed could cut rates of interest greater than 75 basis-points, in response to the CME FedWatch tool.

Regional bank turmoil resumed after The Wall Street Journal reported that Latest York Community was trying to boost capital to stabilize its business. Shares plunged as much as 47% before rising sharply again after it was announced that the bank would get a $1 billion infusion from a bunch including the firm led by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Story continues

Here’s where US indexes stood on the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Wednesday: 

Here’s what else is going on today: 

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.15% to $79.05 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, increased 1% to $82.85 a barrel.

• Gold edged up 0.6% to $2,155.10 per ounce.

• The ten-year Treasury yield dropped two basis points to 4.1o8%.

• Bitcoin surged 7.72% to $67,428.

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