Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen opened a Congressional committee hearing on the U.S. economy on Thursday with an upbeat assessment of where the country stands as the Fed marches towards its first interest rate hike in a decade. Yellen’s prepared testimony to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee largely repeated the case she laid out in a high-profile speech the day before: unemployment is low, growth continues at a modest pace, and she is confident inflation will return to the Fed’s target over time. “I currently judge that U.S.