Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies before the Federal Reserve Board Joint Ecomomic Committee, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
November 29, 2017 - 8:18 AM
WASHINGTON - The Latest on Fed Chair Janet Yellen's testimony to the Joint Economic Committee (all times local):
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10:45 a.m.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the Fed thinks it's important to keep raising interest rates gradually to avoid being forced to raise them much faster if the economy were to overheat.
Yellen is telling Congress' Joint Economic Committee that if the Fed were too slow to keep raising rates incrementally, it might have to accelerate the rate hikes so much as to tip the economy into a recession.
"We don't want to cause a boom-bust economy," Yellen says.
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8 a.m.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the U.S. economy has gained strength this year and that will keep the Fed on track to gradually increasing its key policy rate.
Yellen's congressional testimony was a strong signal that the central bank is ready to boost its policy rate for a third time this year when it meets in December. Yellen said that the economy has remained strong, despite the recent hurricanes. She says while chronically low inflation has failed to move higher, she believes that is temporary.
Yellen's appearance Tuesday could be her last congressional testimony as Fed leader. President Donald Trump has nominated Fed board member Jerome Powell to succeed Yellen as Fed chairman.
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News from © The Associated Press, 2017