Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that interest rates might rise by another half-point this month at a hearing on Capital Hill. He stated that high consumer spending and a hot jobs report in January might keep Fed officials on their course of cooling inflation. The central bank raised the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter point to a range between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent in February. The Fed has been raising interest rates to restrain the prices of stocks and real estate in an effort to curtail spending and cool inflation. Interest rose by a quarter point in January, a half a point in December, and three-quarters of a point in November.