Investing.com – Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen showed a slightly hawkish stance on Wednesday as she recognized the need for removal of some policy accommodation this year in order to avoid an overheating of the U.S. economy.
Though her speech to the House of Representatives’ Financial Service Committee avoided remarks on monetary policy, Yellen admitted in the Q&A period that if job creation continued at its current pace it could lead to overheating of the American economy which in turn would require a more rapid removal of accommodative monetary policy.
However, Yellen also noted that she sees no meaningful upward pressure on inflation and that there was no “fixed timetable” hiking interest rates.
She added that the majority of Fed officials believed that an increase would be likely this year.
Following Yellen’s remarks, the U.S. dollar index hit an intraday high at 95.62 and was last up 0.19% at 95.53.
Meanwhile, gold moved to session lows at $1,324.50 and was last down 0.36%, or $4.85, at $1.325.55.