Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will reiterate his pledge to prevent entrenched inflation, in testimony released before his Senate nomination hearing on Tuesday.
Fast facts
- “We will use our tools to support the economy and a strong labor market and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched,” he said in a statement prepared for delivery.
- In November, U.S. consumer prices rose by 6.8% compared to the same period in 2020, in its biggest spike since 1982.
- Powell is due to start his second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair in February.
- Since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, investors have turned to Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, touting its 21 million maximum BTC supply as a safe haven.
- But in recent weeks, Bitcoin has underperformed, failing to break through the highly anticipated US$100,000 level to close out 2021, and even dipping below the US$40,000 mark for the first time since August, according to Coingecko data.