Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is grappling with how to chart policy amid an inflationary surge far larger than officials anticipated and threatening to become more unpredictable because of the emergence of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
Mr. Powell appears Tuesday morning before the Senate Banking Committee alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for two days of hearings. In prepared testimony, Mr. Powell said the variant, identified in South Africa last week, risks intensifying supply-chain disruptions that have fueled a surprising surge in inflation this year while also potentially restraining the supply of labor.
