US stocks traded higher on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the Congress. In a prepared speech, Powell said the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) believes the current stance of monetary policy will influence to build a strong labor market, continuing economic growth, and inflation reverting to the committee's symmetric 2 per cent objective.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 29,314.54 increased 37.72 points, or 0.13 per cent,. The S&P to 3,368.55, 500 added 16.46 points, or 0.49 per cent,. The Nasdaq Composite Index to 9,701.87 adding 73.48 points, or 0.76 per cent.
"Over the second half of last year, economic activity increased at a moderate pace and the labor market strengthened further, as the economy appeared resilient to the global headwinds that had intensified last summer," he said.
Powell added that The central bank is monitoring closely the emergence of new financial trends after the coronavirus.Three times in 2019 The Fed lowered interest rates, cutting the target range of the federal funds rate by 75 basis points to 1.5-1.75 per cent.
Tuesday On the economic front, the US Labor Department said on the last business day of December, the number of job opportunities fell to 6.4 million and job openings rates are decreasing to 4 per cent. over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.9 million and 5.7 million, respectively.
