when federal reserve chairman jerome powell speaks to congress over the coming two days he will probably say once again that the outlook for interest rates depends on coming data beyond that powell might say that policy makers can slow down the pace of rate hikes to assess the figures as they arrive at the feb1 decision a quarterpoint hike was agreed upon that followed six increases of a threequarter point or a halfpoint expectations are for another quarterpoint hike this month—though the chances of a halfpoint move are rising