JEROME POWELL SPEECH: FED CHAIR PRESENTS MONETARY POLICY REPORT, TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell presented the Monetary Policy Report and responded to questions before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Powell will appear before the Senate Banking Committee in the second day of his semi-annual testimony at 15:00 GMT on Thursday.

Powell told the House on Wednesday that incoming data will determine when they will start reducing the policy rate and repeated that they would like to have greater confidence inflation will move sustainably toward 2% before taking action. Commenting on the economic outlook, Powell noted that there was no reason to think the economy was "in or facing a significant near-term risk of recession."

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield declined to 4.1% in the American session on Wednesday and the US Dollar (USD) suffered large losses against its major rivals. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets are currently pricing in a nearly 90% probability of a rate cut in June