Kevin M. Warsh took the oath of office as Federal Reserve chair on Friday at the White House, stepping into a role where the rate cuts President Donald Trump had long championed no longer appear viable in the short term, according to The New York Times.
The ceremony marked the first White House swearing-in of a Fed chair in about 40 years, according to The Times. Rather than departing the institution entirely when his chairmanship concluded, Jerome H. Powell chose to stay on as a member of the Fed's Board of Governors, a move aimed at protecting the central bank from additional political interference, according to The New York Times.
An energy shock tied to the Iran war has sent inflation moving away from the Fed's 2 percent goal, and the question of whether officials will need to raise rates to bring prices under control has moved to the center of internal deliberations, according to The New York Times. The April meeting record — the last one Powell presided over — showed that while holding rates steady in the 3.5 to 3.75 percent range drew broad support, three FOMC members broke with the majority, pushing back against what they viewed as language that tilted too heavily toward future cuts and calling instead for the Fed to acknowledge that tightening remained on the table. Federal funds futures markets have shifted to reflect expectations of a rate hike sometime in the first part of 2027, according to The Times.
