— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on February 12, Wednesday.
Welcome to the CNBC Business Daily.
Janet Yellen has given her first address as Chairwoman of the US Federal Reserve. In her maiden speech to the US House of Representatives, Yellen assured the market that she would continue tapering the Fed's controversial bond buying program, and said that while the economy was on the mend, persistently high levels of structural unemployment remained a problem for the US.
[Soundbyte on Janet Yellen, Chairwoman of the US Federal Reserve] My colleagues on the FOMC and I anticipate that economic activity and employment will expand at a moderate pace this year and next. The unemployment rate will continue to decline toward its longer-run sustainable level, and inflation will move back toward 2% over coming years. The recovery in the labor market is far from complete. Those out of a job for more than six months continue to make up an unusually large fraction of the unemployed, and the number of people who are working part time but would prefer a full-time job remains very high. These observations underscore the importance of considering more than the unemployment rate when evaluating the condition of the US labor market.
So what impact will Yellen's speech have on US markets? Here's what the analysts we spoke to had to say:
[Soundbyte on tape by Scott Nations, Chief Investment Officer & President, NationsShares] Our economy is doing really well given where we were a few years ago, our stock market is very close to all time highs, so I think the fact that she's going to continue those policies and that the rally is therefore going to continue is not a big surprise.
[Soundbyte on tape by Joel Stern, Chairman & CEO, Stern Value Management] I don't think what she does or even what Stanley Fischer does will have much impact. I think that the economy in the US is going to be a lot stronger than people are saying right now. I'm forecasting a growth rate of close to 4% for this year, it's going to be mostly in the second half, no doubt. The stock market last year was the market's way of predicting what we're going to be getting later this year in the US.
Li Sixuan from CNBC's Singapore headquarters.
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