Economic growth in the U.S. is picking up pace in the final months of 2016 and will continue growing “over the next couple of years,” Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today. Yellen emphasized steady unemployment rates and “above-trend job growth” as reasons to expect continued “moderate” economic expansion, an acceleration from the “modest” pace seen in the first half of 2016.
She also discussed the Federal Open Market Committee’s last meeting during which committees members judged a rate hike “could well become appropriate relatively soon.” Although the FOMC decided not to raise rates, Yellen stressed the decision to wait for further incoming data “does not reflect a lack of confidence in the economy.”
