The Week Ahead: Yellen in the Spotlight

U.S. stocks traded mixed on Tuesday, as a dearth of economic data shifted investor focus to Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, who will testify before Congress later this week. The most obvious interpretation here is that this sets expectations in place for slower growth in the years ahead. Conversely the US Dollar to Euro (USD EUR) exchange rate is trading at 0.8727.

The prepared statement by Janet Yellen repeats numerous previous statements: another hike and the balance sheet reduction are expected this week. The yield on the benchmark U.S. treasury note contracted to 2.3632% in early trade‚ from 2.3830%.

The bank has already raised rates twice this year, and is expected to hike the rate target range (1 to 1.25 percent) once more before the year ends. Her testimony will provide clues on when the central bank would tighten USA monetary policy.

Interest rates are likely to remain historically low over the longer term, the head of the U.S. central bank said on Wednesday.

A flying equity market in Taiwan let some air out of the USA dollar, giving support to the Taiwan dollar, the dealers said. “There’s a lot more event risk later in the week”, Issa said.

The tertiary industry activity dropped 0.1 percent month-on-month in May, reversing a 1.4 percent rise in April.

Wall Street was down, but well off its lows of the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average.DJI was up by 0.69%, and it had hit a record of 21580.79.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 15 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,441 as of 12:15 p.m.

His comments pushed sterling to a two-week low against the dollar and to its lowest in eight months against the euro in early trading on Wednesday.

The New Zealand dollar fell to its lowest since June 23 meanwhile after an quake hit the country’s South Island.

Representative Sean Duffy, a Republican from Wisconsin who often fires tough questions her way, asked Yellen if this appearance before the committee would be her last as head of the nation’s central bank.

Ms Yellen was reporting to members of Congress about bank policy and the economic outlook.

Commodity trader Noble Group rose for a second session, gaining almost 2 percent after Goldilocks Investment Company raised its stake in the firm.

Crude oil was higher.

In commodity markets, oil prices got a reprieve from worries about oversupply after the USA government cut its crude production outlook for next year and as fuel inventories plunged. U.S. light, sweet crude CLc1 also settled 64 cents higher to $45.04.