Fed Chair Powell targets bringing inflation back to 2%, Bitcoin price stays around $22,000

The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified in front of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Tuesday, where he gave some clues to the markets in terms of interest rate hikes going forward. As Powell stated that there had been little evidence of disinflation in the core services, and the market reacted negatively.

Powell was also of the opinion that, with the economic data coming in stronger than expected, interest rates are likely to be higher than previously anticipated. Continuing his testimony on Wednesday, this time in the US House of Representatives, Powell did not make a different statement regarding interest rate hikes from yesterday. 

Submitting identical remarks to the US House Committee on Financial Services, Jerome Powell reiterated that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is anticipating that the ongoing increases in the target range for the federal funds rate will be appropriate. This is in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.

Powell added,

"Our overarching focus is using our tools to bring inflation back down to our 2 percent goal and to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored…We will stay the course until the job is done."

The impact that Powell's Tuesday testimony had on the market will continue to dictate the market's momentum until the weekend. As for the speech on Wednesday, no major impact is expected.

The crypto market remains virtually unchanged

At the time of writing, the crypto market had not shown any immediate reaction on Wednesday. Bitcoin price continued moving within the $22,000 to $22,100 range, trading at $22,095. Altcoins showed no change either, as Ethereum could be seen trading at $1,557, up by a mere 0.30% in the last hour.

BTC/USD 1-day chart

Similarly, Cardano, Dogecoin and MATIC prices also noted minimal changes. However, all the altcoins registered an increase compared to Tuesday, when the initial reaction was red candles. At the moment, ADA stood at $0.323, up by 1.06%, DOGE traded at $0.073, rising by 0.75%, and MATIC changed hands at $1.10, increasing by 0.78%.