Interest rate hike likely by year-end, saya United States Fed Chair Janet Yellen

The Fed said Wednesday that overall industrial production – which includes mining output and utilities, as well as manufacturing – rose 0.3 percent, the best showing since November.

But many GOP lawmakers were less than satisfied.

She was optimistic that inflation would continue to inch upward.

The tacit nod of approval from the Fed chief is a good sign for Wall Street, as a rejection can be costly, though Yellen also made clear The US central bank will not hesitate to reject certain plans when it completes its assessment.

Yellen strongly rejected the idea. This likely drove the move lower in 10- and 30-year yields, which are more sensitive to long-term interest rate expectations, said Donald Ellenberger, senior portfolio manager and head of multisector strategies at Federated Investors. He anticipates that the Fed “will view incoming data as convincing, if not decisive, evidence that the economy is sufficiently healthy to warrant moving away from the emergency levels of accommodation now in place”.

But Democrats highlighted lackluster wage growth, as well as the significant number of Americans who are not working as much as they would like, to make the case that the Fed can do more by keeping borrowing costs as low as possible.

Remember that Yellen previous year ditched the 6.5 percent unemployment rate threshold that was established by her predecessor.

What would also help gold would be a revival in consumer demand.

Canada lowered its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year to shield the country’s economy from the impact of a dive in the oil price.

“I think the factor for the euro is monetary policy divergence rather than Greece”, said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo. She maintained her position on the uncertainty of the rate increase until further economic improvement occurs.

Amid sagging exports, the Korean government is believed likely to tolerate the local currency’s depreciation, she said.

Yellen is due to go the Senate Banking Committee Thursday afternoon to discuss the semiannual report. Under law, she is required to provide Congress twice a year with updates on the Fed’s economic outlook and its handling of interest rates. The funds rate, The Fed’s key policy lever, has not been lifted in almost a decade.

The moves triggered criticism that the Fed has become too powerful, and is too secretive and unaccountable.

Yellen did however, include an explicit defense of the Fed’s “transparency and accountability”, detailing the central bank’s flow of information to financial markets and its press conference and audit schedules as evidence it does not need further congressional oversight. Such measures, the Fed says, could damage the independence it needs to maintain credibility with financial markets.