Janet Yellen: The taper will continue in 'measured steps'

Janet Yellen will signal continuity with her predecessor Ben Bernanke in her first public appearance as Federal Reserve chairwoman before the House of Representatives on Tuesday morning, saying that she expects the Fed to continue to taper its asset purchases in “measured steps” in the months ahead.

In prepared testimony for her appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen ruled out the possibility that recent weak jobs data could prompt the Fed to put the tapering process on hold after reducing the size of the Fed’s monthly bond purchases from $85 billion to $65 billion over the past two monetary policy meetings.