Bonds & Stocks
Bond yields jumped and stocks fell after hotter-than-estimated inflation data spurred bets the Federal Reserve will be in no rush to cut interest rates. Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, climbed 11 basis points to 4.68%. The S&P 500 pared its February gains. The dollar advanced. Swaps are currently pricing 85 basis points of Fed policy easing this year. Just two weeks ago, bets were on around 150 basis points of cuts
Economy
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before key House and Senate committees next month. The House Financial Services Committee will hear from him on March 6, Chairman Patrick McHenry said. That will be followed by the Senate Banking Committee the next day, a spokesman for that panel confirmed. Lawmakers’ questioning will almost certainly focus on the central bank’s handling of inflation, particularly in light of the surprise jump in the consumer price index in January.
World
Russia has fired at least 24 ballistic missiles of North Korean origin at Ukraine since late December, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. “Preliminarily they are identified as Kn-23/24,” Kostin told reporters on Friday. Between Dec. 30 and Feb. 7 Kremlin troops launched at least 12 attacks on seven regions - including the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv in the northeast - with the missiles, causing multiple fatalities, he said. The information on the missiles’ likely origin has been confirmed by the Ukrainian defense ministry’s Armaments Research Institute and the prosecutor general’s office.