*  *  *  Chairman Schumer, Vice Chairman Maloney, Representative Saxton, and other members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here this morning to present an update on the economic situation and outlook. Developments in financial markets Since I last appeared before this Committee in March, the U.S. economy has performed reasonably well.
It was surprising that the current account did not deteriorate faster and further, given the disparity between our growth rate and that of our trading partners. While the slowness of the deterioration has been a pleasing development, we think that the improvement could be some time in coming.