Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, has warned Congress that the rise in coronavirus cases could “prove challenging for the next few months” even as encouraging news on vaccine development has boosted the outlook for the economy in the medium-term.
In prepared remarks released on Monday before a Senate banking committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Mr Powell reiterated that the US central bank was “committed to using our full range of tools” to help the recovery but declined to point to any specific future action.
The Fed chairman did, however, stress that the economic outlook remained “extraordinarily uncertain” — a phrase he has used throughout the pandemic.