the spdr sp 500 etf trust nyse spy traded higher by 02 on tuesday as federal reserve chair jerome powell testified in front of the senate banking committee as part of his confirmation process for a second term as fed chair inflation  interest rates in his testimony powell said a normalized supply chain should help ease inflationary pressures in 2022 but the fed is prepared to take aggressive measures to curb inflation if necessary if we see inflation persisting at high levels longer than expected then we will…if we have to raise interest rates more over time we will we will use our tools to get inflation back powell said we know that high inflation exacts a toll particularly for those less able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food housing transportation related link us adds just 199000 jobs in december unemployment rate falls to 39 powell said elevated inflation is a sign the us economy no longer needs or wants highly accommodative monetary policies he noted that the fed shifts its priorities from maximizing employment to price stability depending on which mandate is further from the feds goals and right now the priority is keeping inflation in check however powell said he believes the era of low interest rates is here to stay “we have been and probably remain in an era of very low interest rates asset sales the minutes from the fomcs latest meeting in december spooked investors last week when they included discussions of potentially reducing the feds balance sheet via asset sales at some point in the near future powell also provided a bit of clarity about the feds plan for 2022 “we’re going to end our asset purchases in march meaning we’ll be raising rates over the course of the year” powell said tuesday “at some point perhaps later this year we will start to allow the balance sheet to run off and that’s just the road to normalizing policy” benzingas take tapering of asset purchases multiple interest rate hikes and potential asset sales would be a lot for the market to digest in a single year however the positive trading action on tuesday suggests investors seem most concerned about the longterm trajectory of interest rates which powell seems to think will remain relatively low