Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared this week at the Economic Club of New York against the backdrop of big moves in the bond market, especially for long-dated Treasuries. In a fireside chat with Wall Street Week afterward, he acknowledged that “it's hard to say exactly what's going on with longer-term yields.”

But whatever the cause, he sees those higher yields as potentially doing part of the Fed’s monetary tightening for it, reducing the impetus for hikes “on the margin.”

READ MORE: Wall Street Week: Jerome Powell Finds a ‘Very Resilient Economy’