The Federal Reserve has yet to make a decision on the pace of interest-rate increases at the March 21-22 meeting, as it awaits more inflation and jobs data to determine whether its price stability goal is starting to come to fruition, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday in response to questions from the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Other than that, his prepared statement was the same as Tuesday, when he signaled the Fed is prepared to speed up the pace of rate hikes if economic data keeps coming in stronger than expected . In Wednesday morning trading, the S&P 500 +0.2% , the tech-heavy Nasdaq +0.3% , and the Dow Jones -0.2% . The 10-year Treasury yield slid five basis points to 3.92%, and the 2-year slipped one bp to 5%. While Powell stressed that Fed policymakers have not made up their minds on the size of the coming rate hike, the fed funds futures market priced in a greater likelihood (72.0% vs. 69.8% a day before) that the policy rate will increase by 50 bps, according to the CME FedWatch tool . 11:27 AM ET: Slowing down "the pace of rate hikes this year is a way for us" to assess the lags with which monetary policy works its way through the economy, he noted. Policy lags are "long and variable and I would stress highly uncertain." 11:19 AM ET: U.S. lenders "are strongly capitalized," he emphasized. "More capital means more safety and soundness and more ability to withstand terribly stressful periods." 11:02 AM ET: "I've never understood the value of" unbacked cryptos, Powell said. 10:47 AM ET: Compared with other countries, the U.S. health care delivery system is "very expensive," he said, noting the U.S. spends 17%-18% of gross domestic product delivering health care, while "other similarly wealthy countries spend 10%. That's $1T a year that we spend and get nothing for it." 10:37 AM ET: Powell called for increased clarity on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, adding that states could also play a key role in overseeing the space. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Seeking Alpha contributor Chris Lau urged market participants not to fight the Fed and take Powell's warnings of higher-for-longer rates at face value, calling on investors to boost their cash allocation. Dear readers: We recognize that politics often intersects with the financial news of the day, so we invite you to click here to join the separate political discussion .
