What stands out most from the Janet Yellen testimony Thursday to the Senate Banking Committee is that her remarks mirrored comments made on Feb. 11 in her first monetary policy testimony to a House panel.
Speaking on Capitol Hill about the Semiannual Monetary Report, Yellen repeated that the central bank is likely to maintain its approach of progressively trimming asset purchases. The taper will continue even as policy makers monitor data to determine if the recent spate of soft economy data is temporary or something more serious.