Wall Street slips in wake of comments by top Fed officials

U.S. stocks ended modestly lower after a volatile session on Friday, having bounced between gains and losses as investors wrestled with the likely timing of a U.S. interest rate hike following comments from top Federal Reserve officials. The S&P 500 rose after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the case for raising rates had strengthened but did not indicate when the Fed would act. Yellen told a gathering of central bankers from around the world in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the U.S. economy was nearing the central bank’s goals of maximum employment and price stability but that future hikes should be “gradual”.

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Wall Street slips in wake of comments by top Fed officials

Yellen, alongside Fed alum, says rate hikes on track

The U.S. economy is on a solid course with some hints of inflation so the Federal Reserve is on track for further interest rate hikes, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Thursday in a defense of her decision to tighten policy late last year. In a rare spectacle, Yellen spoke on a New York panel alongside her three predecessors who ran the world's most powerful central bank. “So yes, there is accommodation in the monetary policy that we have.

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Yellen, alongside Fed alum, says rate hikes on track

Yellen faces tough sell on Fed rate hikes in Congress

By Jonathan Spicer and Ann Saphir WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will defend the U.S. central bank's first rate hike in a decade and likely insist that further rises this year remain on track, albeit at a slower pace, when she addresses Congress on Wednesday. Yellen, who is certain to be grilled by lawmakers on whether the economy really is ready for higher rates, will point to continued strong jobs growth even as financial markets have all but priced out any rate hikes this year and as signs of stress in the global financial system have re-emerged amid volatile markets. The Fed Chair also is likely to find herself in heated exchanges with lawmakers over the bank's perceived secrecy, with presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle now taking regular shots at the Fed on the campaign trail.

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Yellen faces tough sell on Fed rate hikes in Congress