All posts tagged: Interest rates

Banking’s Rounds liked Warsh’s ‘tone’ in first testimony as Fed chair

Banking’s Rounds liked Warsh’s ‘tone’ in first testimony as Fed chair

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Senate banking committee, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday that Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh struck the right in an appearance before the panel this week. “I think his message was a good message. He started off by talking about the need to get inflation under control, the focus that the Fed had on that,” Rounds said. “So I think we’re on the same playing field as what Kevin Warsh wants to be.” Warsh, who took over as Fed chair in May, was on Capitol Hill for two days of testimony this week, first in the House on Tuesday and then before the Senate panel on Wednesday, where he fielded questions on inflation and the independence of the central bank. Read more CNBC politics coverage Trump appointed Warsh after an extended campaign against his predecessor, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates. The Fed, in Warsh’s first meeting as chair in June, held rates steady. “We’d love to have inflation to come down and have interest rates …

New Fed task force members share Chairman Kevin Warsh’s embrace of AI

New Fed task force members share Chairman Kevin Warsh’s embrace of AI

Published by Sam Flores

A series of task forces designed to bring outside thinking to the Federal Reserve will include the “best minds,” Chairman Kevin Warsh said Thursday. For a task force that could be especially consequential for the Fed’s management of the economy — on artificial intelligence — those outside minds all seem to lean in the same direction.  Warsh’s AI task force members all appear to believe AI will be a transformative technology, with far-reaching effects on growth and productivity. That lines up with Warsh’s own views. He selected the task-force members personally. The AI task force was one of five the Fed rolled out Thursday. Its formal charge is to “assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.” It will be led by three external advisors: venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, economist Charles I. Jones, and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.  All have recently spoken or written in sharply positive terms about the effects of AI on the economy.  Read more CNBC politics coverage The Fed chairman is a …

5 takeaways from President Donald Trump’s interview with CNBC

5 takeaways from President Donald Trump’s interview with CNBC

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump speaks with CNBC’s Joe Kernen in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on July 2, 2026. CNBC 1. Trump feels bad for his kids over investment scrutiny The president defended his family’s business and said he feels bad that the presidency creates a conflict of interest in any of his children’s investments. “Anything they do, because the presidency is so powerful … if they buy a cupcake company, well, the energy to make the cupcakes, is you know, sort of like, how’s my energy policy?” Trump said during the interview. The president added, “Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck … if they buy an energy efficient truck, they have insider information.” The investments of the president’s children have been heavily scrutinized, especially as their portfolio has aligned with the strategic goals of the elder Trump’s administration. The Trump administration has approved deals or contracts with multiple companies that the younger Trumps have invested in, from drone manufacturers to mining ventures. Those investments have raised …

Supreme Court rules Trump cannot fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook for now

Supreme Court rules Trump cannot fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook for now

Published by Sam Flores

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank for now. But the opinion leaves open the possibility of dismissing her in the future. The court did not rule whether Trump ultimately will have the power to fire Cook or any other member of the Fed. Instead, the 5-4 ruling rejected Trump’s bid to pause a lower federal court ruling that had prevented her from being terminated as her lawsuit challenging her dismissal proceeds. Trump had claimed he sought to fire Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud, which she adamantly denied. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority, which included his fellow conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the court’s three liberal members, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The four other conservative justices dissented. “Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design,” Roberts wrote. In a footnote, Roberts said …

Trump eases pressure on Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh as inflation tops 4%

Trump eases pressure on Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh as inflation tops 4%

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh for Warsh’s swearing-in ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2026. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters With inflation topping 4%, the Trump administration is easing off its long-standing calls for the Federal Reserve to immediately cut interest rates. That is giving new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh an extended political grace period as he deals with a challenging economic environment, but underscores the depth of the pushback he could face if the mercurial president changes his mind.  President Donald Trump said as recently as Wednesday that he wants the Fed to cut rates. Meanwhile several of the president’s top economic advisors have in recent interviews and writing stopped short of calling for near-term rate cuts, as they had before the Iran war sent some prices surging and Trump installed Warsh as the new Fed chairman. What might look like division is really an indication that the Trump-Warsh relationship has shifted the political gravity of the Trump administration, a White House official …

Inside Kevin Warsh’s selection process for the next Atlanta Fed president

Inside Kevin Warsh’s selection process for the next Atlanta Fed president

Published by Sam Flores

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Georgia government building entrance. Ablokhin | Istock Editorial | Getty Images The search for a new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta — now entering its seventh month — is being watched carefully for how new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh intends to reshape the interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. That process has shifted as Warsh has begun to put his stamp on the central bank. The Fed was considering candidates for Atlanta under then-Chair Jerome Powell, but the selection process was paused in part to allow Warsh to oversee the appointment, two people familiar with the hiring process told CNBC, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing search. Michael Faulkender, a former senior Treasury official under President Donald Trump, was subsequently considered for the position in Atlanta, the people said. It isn’t clear if Faulkender is still a candidate. The Atlanta Fed declined to comment on Faulkender or who is under consideration. “Our committee is conducting a thorough and deliberate search for the next president …

Kevin Warsh task forces are key to understanding the new Fed

Kevin Warsh task forces are key to understanding the new Fed

Published by Sam Flores

Kevin Warsh, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Chairman Kevin Warsh’s 43-odd minutes at the Federal Reserve’s podium Wednesday were intended to deliver the message that, slowly but surely, he will set about making the Fed quieter, more humble in its engagement with the markets and the economy, and — ultimately — laser-focused on inflation.  “I’ve said for years inflation is a choice,” Warsh told reporters. “You bet it is.” Warsh sees his confirmation as Fed chair as a mandate to deliver far-reaching change to the Fed, intended to get the Fed out of the business of allowing inflation to run too hot. At his first press conference, he gave a roadmap to how that change will come about. He also gave some hints as to where he may face the biggest risks.  Read more CNBC politics coverage Warsh’s initial changes to the Fed are in some …

Trump trusts Fed Chair Warsh. It matters for more than interest rates

Trump trusts Fed Chair Warsh. It matters for more than interest rates

Published by Sam Flores

US President Donald Trump, right, and Kevin Warsh, incoming chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a swearing-in ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, May 22, 2026. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images When Kevin Warsh steps to the podium Wednesday for his first news conference as chair of the Federal Reserve, he will enjoy something his predecessor Jerome Powell lacked for years: breathing room from the president. “The president trusts Warsh, so he’ll have some scope of action,” a person familiar with Trump-Fed dynamics said, speaking under condition of anonymity to describe what has been one of the most volatile relationships of this administration. The new Fed chair will attempt to use that freedom to make his case internally for far-reaching change at the Fed, people who know him and closely follow the central bank said. Warsh’s reform agenda includes moving the Fed slowly toward the lower rates Warsh has endorsed as well as reducing the institution’s multibillion-dollar balance sheet and changing how it …

For Warsh as Fed chair, silence may be the point

For Warsh as Fed chair, silence may be the point

Published by Sam Flores

Markets head into the first Fed meeting run by new Chair Kevin Warsh with almost no idea what he thinks about the recent surge in job growth, the acceleration in inflation or the path of interest rates. And that may be by design. Warsh has strongly criticized Fed communications, saying they have led to policy errors and placed the Fed more at the center of market decisions and the economy than it should be. His plans for “regime change” include a rethink of how the Fed forecasts and talks about its plans for monetary policy. That appears to include both quantity and frequency. “If you ask me my true personal opinion right now, Fed chairs and other central bankers around the FOMC, they speak quite frequently,” Warsh said at his confirmation hearing in April, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee. “I would say this, I think truth-seeking is more important than repetition. If one has a press conference, one wants to deliver some important news.” The immediate short-run question is where Warsh stands on …

Trump swears Kevin Warsh in as Fed chair, seeking interest rate cuts

Trump swears Kevin Warsh in as Fed chair, seeking interest rate cuts

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump led a ceremony swearing in Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, putting him in charge of a central bank that must navigate a tumultuous economy and a president with very specific expectations on interest rates. Trump, whose actions toward the Fed have spurred bipartisan alarms about executive influence on the historically independent central bank, said he wanted Warsh to “just do your own thing and do a great job.” “I want Kevin to be totally independent,” Trump said at the start of the event Friday morning. “Don’t look at me, don’t look at anybody.” But the swearing-in ceremony itself highlighted the the president’s unprecedented involvement with the Fed during his second term: Warsh is the first Fed chair to be sworn in at the White House since Alan Greenspan in 1987. The event in the East Room was attended by a range of high-profile figures, including Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, House Speaker Mike Johnson and many other politicians and Cabinet officials. Thomas delivered the oath to …