Jay Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, has told Congress there was “hope for a return to more normal conditions” this year but signalled that the central bank intended to maintain its heavy support of the economy.
His comments pointed to no early Fed tightening of monetary policy or drawdown of asset purchases even with a brighter economic outlook — and initially helped contain a second straight day of losses for shares of fast growing technology shares.
Lofty valuations on tech companies have been supported by rock-bottom interest rates from the Fed and other central banks. But as economic momentum has gathered in the US, real interest rates have climbed, triggering unease in parts of the US equity market.