**MNI 5 Things: Fed's Powell Gives No Clues About March Meet

--5 Things We Learned From Fed Chair Powell's Testimony

By Kevin Kastner and Jean Yung

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the testimony of

Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell's testimony to the House Financial

Services Committee Tuesday:

- The testimony offers nothing new on the path of rate increases, as Powell

repeated the words "further gradual increases" seen in the January FOMC

statement, but did not venture beyond that and did not tip his hand on the

approaching March FOMC meeting. He said that near-term risks remain "roughly

balanced," and that inflation will be monitored closely.

- Powell said that the FOMC will "continue to strike a balance between avoiding

an overheated economy and bringing PCE price inflation to 2 percent on a

sustained basis." He noted that that the softer inflation readings in 2017

likely reflected transitory factors that are not expected to repeat.

- Powell sees fiscal policy as "more stimulative" for the economy and, along

with the stronger job market, rising exports, and increased business investment,

should help the inflation rate to move up closer to 2% this year. He does not

see financial conditions, which have reversed some of their easing, as "weighing

heavily on the outlook for economic activity."

     - The testimony repeated that the path of monetary policy changes will

continue to depend on the economic outlook that is based on data.

- Powell said that he finds monetary policy rule prescriptions as "helpful," but

pointed to the Monetary Policy Report, released last Friday, for a fuller

discussion of the matter, urging "careful judgments" are required due to the

shortcoming as limitations found with these policy rules. He did express his

support for continued transparency, but did not call for more press conference

that some analysts had expected.

--MNI Washington Bureau; tel: +1 202-371-2121; email: kevin.kastner@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MMUFE$,M$U$$$]