The recent rebound in U.S. equities appeared to stall last week until a strong rally on Friday. The rally, fueled in part by a slight decline in the 10yr Treasury yield, which brought it back below 2.90%, left equity markets in positive territory for the week. As a result, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have now recouped more than half their losses from earlier in the month.

On Wednesday, the Fed released the minutes from its January meeting, the last under Janet Yellen’s watch as Fed Chair. The general interpretation was that the Fed now sees a stronger economy than it did as recently as the end of 2017. That had the effect of briefly pushing the 10-Year Treasury yield to 2.96%, a four year high. One notable point within the minutes was that FOMC staff presented three briefings on inflation analysis and forecasting. Despite expectations to the contrary, inflation has continually defied the Fed by remaining stubbornly below the central banks 2% target.

The Fed will once again be in the spotlight this week as new Fed Chair Jay Powell appears before Congress to deliver the Fed’s semi-annual testimony. Though Powell is widely viewed as a proponent of the policies espoused by former Chair Janet Yellen, this will nonetheless be his most high profile appearance since becoming Fed Chair and as a result, markets will be carefully parsing his remarks.

Through Friday, 90% of S&P 500 companies had reported fourth-quarter earnings with 74% and 78% beating their earnings and revenues estimate, respectively. According to FactSet, fourth-quarter earnings growth is currently expected to be 14.8%, which if met, would represent the strongest growth since third quarter 2011.