By Kevin Flanagan
Taking a breather from the regular headlines emanating from Washington, DC, over the course of the last two days the other policy, i.e., monetary, got its chance to be in the limelight, as Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Janet Yellen provided Congress with the Fed's semiannual Monetary Policy Report.
Since the Fed raised rates back in December and projected it might lift the Fed Funds target range an additional three times in 2017, the U.S. Treasury ((UST)) market has been looking for some sort of sign as to whether this prediction is still valid. This year's first FOMC meeting offered no hint that a Fed rate hike could be in the offing for the next gathering on March 15. Thus, these congressional testimonies were being viewed as an opportunity for Yellen to change the UST market's current perception of "no rate hike in March," if in fact the… Read More …