Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve — interest-rate decisions, inflation, and monetary policy — reported without spin.

80 articles shownof 80 totalLast updated 2026-08-04 01:11 UTC

Bessent Wants the Fed to Bankroll Japan's Yen Defense. That's a Bigger Ask Than the Intervention Itself.

Since Friday's coordinated dollar sales to prop up the yen, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved on to a bigger request: get the Federal Reserve to expand its FIMA lending facility so Japan can defend its currency without dumping Treasuries. That puts new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh in a spot, deciding how far an independent central bank should go in propping up American financial diplomacy.

New Federal Loan Caps Push States to Offer Their Own Student Loans, With Interest Rates Up to 10.5%

Congress capped federal grad school borrowing starting July 1 under Trump's tax and spending law, and states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Minnesota are stepping in with their own loan programs. These state loans carry the government's name but function like private credit, with rates that can beat or badly trail federal loans depending on the borrower's credit.

Wall Street's Bond Managers Are Betting on Short-Term Treasurys, Not the Fed Cutting Rates

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged this past week, and at least one major asset manager, Allspring Global Investments, says the smart money should stop chasing long-term bonds and focus on short-term Treasurys instead. The reasoning: the market is now pricing in the possibility of Fed hikes, not cuts, over the next couple of years.

10-Year Treasury Yield Tops 4.7%, Higher Than When Trump Took Office. Rate Cut Promise Nowhere in Sight

Trump promised Fed rate cuts would be 'Rocket Fuel' for the economy. Instead, borrowing costs are higher than when he took office, the government spent $827 billion servicing debt this fiscal year, and his own new Fed chair Kevin Warsh won't say how he'll fix inflation. The tariffs, AI data-center borrowing binge, and Iran war are all pushing rates the wrong direction.

New UK Education Secretary Lucy Powell Calls Student Loan Interest Rates 'Egregious,' Promises Review But No Fixes Yet

Lucy Powell, Labour's new education secretary, says fixing England's student loan repayment system is at the top of her priority list and repeats her past claim that Plan 2 interest rates are 'egregious.' She won't commit to any specific change, and the freeze on the repayment threshold that Rachel Reeves defended last year is still in place.

The Fed Still Doesn't Have Access to Anthropic's Mythos AI Model, Chairman Warsh Tells Senate

Since Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell called banks in for an emergency briefing on Anthropic's Mythos model back in April, the Federal Reserve itself has been locked out of the tool it wants banks patched against. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh told the Senate last week he's still asking for access, months later. The agency in charge of supervising the banking system's cybersecurity can't test the very AI model driving the crisis.

DoubleLine Says High Bond Yields Are Doing the Fed's Job for It, Bets on Zero Rate Hikes in 2026

DoubleLine Capital is loading up on shorter-dated Treasuries, betting Fed Chair Kevin Warsh won't need to hike or cut rates for the rest of 2026 because elevated bond yields are already squeezing the economy. Bank of America disagrees and still expects three hikes before year-end. The federal funds rate has sat at 3.50%-3.75% since Warsh took over in May.

Fed Rate Hike Odds Fall to 4% After June PPI Posts Its Biggest Drop Since April 2025

Traders have all but erased bets on a Fed rate hike this month after Wednesday's PPI report showed producer prices fell 0.3% in June, the sharpest monthly decline since April 2025. The July hike probability, which was already low, has dropped to just 4%, and September odds fell from 59% to 41.5% in 24 hours.

Warsh Tells House Panel the Fed Has 'No Tolerance' for Inflation, Even as June CPI Cools to 3.5%

Kevin Warsh testified before the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday that June's cooler inflation reading doesn't mean the fight is over, and he's rolling out five internal task forces to overhaul how the Fed operates. He heads to the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, where Chairman Tim Scott says he wants Warsh talking about AI data centers, not just interest rates.

June CPI Comes in Cooler Than Expected at 3.5%, But Warsh Tells Congress the Fed Isn't Backing Off Inflation Fight

June inflation dropped to 3.5% annually, beating forecasts of 3.8%, largely because gas and fuel oil prices fell over 9% during a brief Iran ceasefire. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh used his first congressional testimony to promise inflation will be a 'thing of the past' while leaning hard on AI investment as a growth story. Bond traders still see a real shot at a rate hike, not a cut, at the Fed's July 28-29 meeting.

Federal Reserve Survey: Small Businesses Took the Biggest Hit From Trump's 2025 Tariffs

A Federal Reserve of New York analysis of last year's Small Business Credit Survey found small businesses bore a disproportionate share of the pain from President Trump's 2025 tariffs, mostly by raising prices on customers. The people Trump promised to help got squeezed the hardest, and the paperwork mess from a Supreme Court ruling striking down some tariffs hasn't made it easier to get money back.

Who Is Actually Advising the Fed on AI and Jobs? A Layoff CEO, a VC, and a Stanford Economist on Leave at Anthropic.

The Federal Reserve has tapped Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones to guide its AI-and-jobs task force. Sharma announced 3,200 Microsoft gaming layoffs days before the appointment. Meanwhile, a new Ramp and Revelio Labs study finds that companies most aggressively adopting AI actually grew headcount by 10.2% over two years, complicating the panic narrative without resolving it.

Warsh Names Marc Andreessen, Doug McMillon to Fed Task Forces as Rate Hike Odds Sit at 54%

Newly confirmed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh released the full membership of his five monetary policy task forces on Thursday, pulling in tech investor Marc Andreessen, former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, and a roster of international economists. The announcement lands as the Fed's own June minutes show policymakers openly split on whether rates need to go up or stay put, with Kalshi prediction markets putting hike odds at 54% for 2026.

Kevin Warsh Confirmed as Federal Reserve Chair in Closest Senate Vote in Fed History

Kevin Warsh has been confirmed as the next Federal Reserve chair, clearing the Senate in the narrowest confirmation vote ever recorded for that position. Warsh, a former Fed governor and Wall Street veteran, takes the helm at a moment of genuine macro complexity: 30-year Treasury yields have touched 5% for the first time since 2007, and Japan's 20-year bond yields are at levels not seen since 1997.

Federal Reserve Data: The Top 1% Now Holds 31.9% of U.S. Household Wealth, Up from 22.8% in 1989

Thirty-six years of Federal Reserve data show a steady upward shift in wealth concentration at the top and a corresponding slide for everyone below. The mechanism is straightforward: stocks and business equity outpaced real estate, and the top 1% holds far more of the former. The middle class — the 50th to 90th percentile band — lost the most ground of any group in proportional terms.

Wage Growth Peaked Four Years Ago. Two Analysts Say the Fed Should Cut in September.

A May CPI print of 4.2% year-over-year has the inflation hawks warning of 1970s-style stagflation and rate hikes ahead. Two market analysts — Peter Tchir of Academy Securities and Lance Roberts of RealInvestmentAdvice.com — argue the headline number is misleading, because wage growth, the variable that has reliably led CPI peaks since 1985, topped out roughly fifty months ago.

Gold Posts First Weekly Gain in Five Weeks as June Jobs Miss Cuts Fed Rate Hike Odds

Spot gold is up 1.4% this morning, July 3, trading around $4,182 an ounce and on track for a 2.3% weekly gain after Thursday's June payrolls report came in well below expectations. That weak jobs number trimmed the market-implied probability of a September Fed rate hike from 65% to 53.5%, giving gold some room to breathe. The metal is still down about 22% from its January all-time high above $5,300, and strategists say a lasting recovery requires more than one soft data print.

Supreme Court Overturns 90-Year Humphrey's Executor Precedent, Gives Presidents Power to Fire Agency Heads. Federal Reserve Is the Exception.

The Supreme Court today issued two landmark rulings on presidential removal power. A 6-3 majority wiped out the 1935 Humphrey's Executor precedent, letting presidents fire heads of independent agencies like the FTC at will. But a separate 5-4 ruling held that the Federal Reserve's board governors retain for-cause protection, drawing a clear constitutional line between the central bank and every other federal agency.

Fed Rate Cut by September Is Now a Real Possibility, Analyst Argues, Even as Iran Clashes and AI Costs Complicate the Picture

Markets have priced in a 75% chance of a Fed rate hike in September and nearly 1.25 hikes by December, but Academy Securities' Peter Tchir argues that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is quietly laying the groundwork for cuts instead. Two wild cards — renewed U.S.-Iran exchanges and growing doubts about the AI trade — could derail that path before it opens. The unresolved question is whether Warsh's hawkish public posture is the message or the misdirection.

Gold Stalls Near $3,990, Down 7.5% for the Year as Fed Rate Hike Bets and Fading War Premium Weigh on Prices

Gold is struggling to hold $4,000 and silver has shed nearly 20% since January 1, as the precious metals rally that defined 2025 runs out of fuel. A hawkish Federal Reserve under new Chair Kevin Warsh, a strengthening dollar, and the apparent wind-down of the U.S.-Iran conflict have removed the main drivers that sent both metals to record highs last year.

India's Central Bank Governor Calls Rate Hike Talk Premature, Bond Yields Fall to Three-Month Lows

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said Wednesday that discussing interest rate hikes is premature, pointing to the MPC's neutral stance as proof the bank isn't preparing to tighten. Indian bond yields dropped to their lowest since March as markets absorbed the signal, though monsoon deficits and fragile geopolitics keep the outlook genuinely uncertain.

Education Department Cuts Student Loan Interest Rate by 1% for Autopay Enrollees, Sets September 30 Deadline

The Department of Education announced a temporary 1% interest rate reduction for federal student loan borrowers who enroll in autopay by September 30, 2026. The move quadruples the previous 0.25% autopay discount and targets a repayment participation rate that has fallen from over 80% pre-pandemic to roughly 40% today. The policy is incremental, not transformational, and the underlying $1.7 trillion debt problem remains unresolved.

Nine of 18 Fed Officials Now Project a 2026 Rate Hike as Warsh's Market-First Framework Takes Hold

Since Kevin Warsh's first FOMC meeting wrapped up last Wednesday, the picture has sharpened: markets are getting less Fed guidance and more volatility. Nine of the 18 committee members penciled in a rate hike before year-end, the easing bias is gone, and Warsh himself submitted no forecast at all. The question investors are now working through is whether repricing on real data is healthier than the old hand-holding, or just more painful.

Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman for Nearly 19 Years, Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan died Monday at his Washington home from complications of Parkinson's disease, confirmed by his wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell. He led the Fed from 1987 to 2006 under four presidents, earned the nickname 'the Maestro' for steering the 1990s boom, and spent his final years defending decisions that critics tied to the 2008 financial crisis.

Megacap Tech Gorges on Debt to Build AI Infrastructure, and That Makes the Fed's Next Move Their Problem Too

Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are projected to spend a combined $750 billion on AI infrastructure this year, much of it funded by debt. That shift is pulling big tech squarely into the interest-rate universe that previously only worried smaller, unprofitable companies. The Fed's signal of a possible 2026 rate hike is no longer an abstraction for tech investors.

Kevin Warsh Delivered on His Promise. The Fed's First Statement Under His Watch Was 132 Words, Down from 341.

The new Fed chair has acted. His first press conference cut the Fed's policy statement by 61%, dropped all forward guidance, and sent the 10-year Treasury yield jumping six basis points in a single session. The debate now is whether this is sound monetary discipline or a volatility tax on every American borrower.

Fed's Dot Plot Now Projects a Rate Hike This Year. Warsh Refused to Submit His Own Forecast.

The FOMC held rates steady at 3.50%–3.75% on June 17, but the quarterly dot plot shifted sharply hawkish, with nine of 18 submitting officials now expecting at least one hike before year-end. Chair Kevin Warsh declined to submit a projection and stripped forward guidance from the policy statement entirely. Treasury markets moved fast: the 2-year yield climbed more than 16 basis points to 4.216% by the close of regular trading.

Wells Fargo Shares Down 9% Year to Date, a Year After the Fed Lifted Its Asset Cap

The Federal Reserve removed its $1.95 trillion asset cap on Wells Fargo in June 2025, and investors expected a breakout. Twelve months later, the stock is lagging the S&P 500 by roughly 19 percentage points, and Jim Cramer's CNBC Investing Club is trimming its position. The underperformance reflects both Wells-specific execution problems and broader pressure on bank stocks in 2026.

Iran Deal Drops Oil 5%, Pulls Treasury Yields Lower, and Cuts Odds of a Fed Rate Hike

Since the Iran conflict began in late February, energy-driven inflation had pushed 10-year Treasury yields nearly half a percentage point higher and killed expectations for a 2026 Fed rate cut. Sunday's preliminary peace agreement reversed some of that pressure overnight, but core inflation and a record equity issuance wave mean the rate picture for the rest of 2026 is still unresolved.

Bank Indonesia's Surprise Rate Hike Has Already Failed to Stop the Bond Selloff — Another Hike Is Now Expected June 18

Since Bank Indonesia's off-cycle 25-basis-point rate hike on June 9, Indonesian bonds have resumed their selloff: the 10-year yield climbed back to 7.47% on Thursday, June 11 — near its highest level since 2022. The brief Wednesday relief rally is over. Analysts at PT Mirae Asset Sekuritas and BNY now expect another rate hike at the scheduled June 18 meeting if the rupiah fails to stabilize. The deeper problem isn't the interest rate — it's a crisis of confidence in Indonesia's economic governance.

South Korean Kospi Crashes 8% as AI Trade Unwinds and Rate Hike Fears Return

South Korea's Kospi index plunged more than 8% in a single session, triggering an emergency trading halt as leveraged retail bets on Samsung and SK Hynix unwound fast. This is what concentrated AI hype looks like when it reverses. Regular investors — not Wall Street institutions — are holding the bag.

Global Markets Enter Week Two of Tech-Driven Rout: $1.8 Trillion Gone, Oil at $98, and Rate Hike Bets Mount

Since Broadcom's revenue miss triggered a cascade last week, the global tech selloff has extended into Monday, June 8, wiping $1.8 trillion from S&P 500 market cap and dragging Asian and European markets down hard. A blowout May jobs report killed hopes for Fed rate cuts — and now traders are pricing in hikes. Add oil spiking to $98 on fresh Middle East strikes, and the bull case that carried markets for two years is under serious stress.

Federal Reserve Study Published in Science: Remote Workers Are More Depressed, Anxious, and Lonely Than In-Office Peers

A peer-reviewed study published June 8, 2026 in the journal Science found remote workers experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and mental health care visits than people in jobs that require in-person attendance. Workers are willingly trading up to 10% of their salary for the privilege — and it's costing them more than money. The answer isn't forced return-to-office mandates, but the data should end the pretense that remote work is a mental health free lunch.

May Jobs Report Triggers Wall Street's Worst Week in Over a Year — Fed Rate Hike Now Fully Priced In

A stronger-than-expected May jobs report crushed what had been a nine-week winning streak for the S&P 500, sending the Nasdaq 100 down roughly 5% and pushing rate-hike odds to 100% by year-end. The AI trade that drove the entire rally is now the epicenter of the blowup. Regular people with 401(k)s are watching months of gains evaporate in days.

Fed Rate Hike Odds Hit 52% as Markets Absorb the May Jobs Report — and Kevin Warsh Faces a Civil War Inside the Fed

Since the May jobs report landed earlier today showing 172,000 new positions — a 4-sigma blowout above the 80,000-88,000 consensus — the story has shifted from the headline number to what comes next. Prediction markets now put the odds of a Fed rate HIKE this year at 52%, and Kevin Warsh, the new Fed chair sworn in May 22, is already taking fire from his own colleagues. This isn't just about rates anymore. It's about who controls the Fed's direction.

Fed Rate Hike Odds Hit 52% as Alphabet Goes Hat-in-Hand for $85 Billion and Trump Complains About His Own Good Economy

Since this morning's May jobs blowout re-priced the entire rate outlook, three major storylines are colliding: prediction markets now see a 52% chance the Fed hikes before year-end, Alphabet is scrambling to raise $85 billion with its stock in a four-week slide, and Trump publicly complained that 'stocks should go up, not down' — apparently unaware that strong jobs data kills the rate-cut trade. The market isn't broken. Trump just doesn't understand how it works.

May Jobs Report Blows Up the Fed Rate-Cut Narrative — And Takes the Nasdaq Down With It

Since the Broadcom-triggered chip selloff began earlier this week, Friday's blowout May jobs report poured gasoline on the fire — the Nasdaq dropped more than 3%, its worst single-day loss since October 2025, and the S&P 500's nine-week winning streak is officially over. Strong labor data killed expectations of near-term Fed rate cuts, sending Treasury yields spiking and rotating money out of tech into defensive sectors. This wasn't a random market panic — it was a collision between overheated AI expectations and cold economic reality.

S&P 500 Snaps 9-Day Win Streak: Broadcom Miss, Iran Escalation, and a Rate Hike Scare Hit Markets Hard

Since the S&P 500 closed above 7,600 for the first time on Tuesday, Wednesday brought a sharp reality check — the index fell 0.74%, the Dow dropped 620 points, and after-hours carnage from Broadcom and CrowdStrike set up Thursday for more pain. The bigger story isn't one bad day. It's a convergence of three separate threats hitting the market simultaneously.

Bond Market Prices In Fed Rate Hike by December as Warsh Takes Helm and Iran War Inflates Everything

Since Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Fed Chair on May 22, Treasury yields have surged and bond traders have flipped from betting on cuts to betting on hikes — all by December 2026. The Iran war is the accelerant. The S&P 500 is somehow still hitting records while the bond market screams inflation. Both things can't stay true forever.

Iran Deal Stalls Into June: Oil Rebounds 3%, Hedge Funds Buy Stocks at Fastest Pace in Six Months, and the Fed Has a New Problem

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension is holding — barely — but fresh strikes and no final deal sent oil climbing over 3% to start June. Stocks shrugged it off anyway, powered by AI momentum and the fastest hedge fund buying in six months. Meanwhile, inflation data nobody is talking enough about just got worse.

Fed Rate Hike Odds Jump to 10% After Powell Press Conference — Markets Now Pricing Tightening Risk for 2026

The conversation has shifted from 'how many cuts' to 'could there actually be a hike.' Fed rate hike odds went from 0% to 10% in a single day after Powell's April 29 presser, driven by surging oil prices and a new Iran war premium baked into inflation expectations. This is a direct update to the ECB hike story — the pressure isn't just in Europe anymore.

ECB Meeting Minutes Reveal April Hold Was a Close Call — Rate Hike Now Expected June 11

The ECB's internal minutes from the April 30 meeting show several policymakers were ready to hike right then and there. The energy shock from the Middle East war is proving stickier than the ECB expected, and markets are now pricing in a 25-basis-point hike at the June 11 meeting. This is a significant shift from the 'wait and see' tone the ECB was projecting publicly.

Federal Reserve Governors Warn Stablecoins Could Reshape Banking, Monetary Policy — Congress Already Moved

The Federal Reserve is finally grappling with what stablecoins actually mean for the U.S. economy — and the picture is complicated. Two Fed governors gave major speeches laying out real risks to bank deposits and monetary policy transmission. Congress already passed the GENIUS Act, so ready or not, this is happening.

Powell Out, Warsh In, and the Fed Just Added Middle East Oil Shock to Its Rate-Hold Case

The April 29 FOMC meeting delivered more than a hold — it marked Jerome Powell's final press conference as Fed chair, confirmed Kevin Warsh's path to the top job, and revealed a new wildcard: rising crude oil prices tied to Middle East conflict. The Fed's messaging war is still hot, and now there's a DOJ investigation hanging over Powell's exit too.

Europe's Inflation Problem Gets Worse: France at 2.8%, Italy 3.3%, Spain 3.6% — ECB June Rate Hike Now Expected

Fresh May inflation data from Europe's three biggest economies landed Friday and it's ugly — all three are running well above the ECB's 2% target, driven by war-fueled energy costs. The data has locked in expectations for an ECB rate hike in June, the first since 2023. Meanwhile, the Bank of England is taking the opposite tack — telling Brits to sit tight while inflation runs hot.

IMF's Gita Gopinath: Global Interest Rates Are Structurally Higher — and Tariff Chaos Could Make It Worse

The era of near-zero interest rates is over, and it's not coming back anytime soon. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath has laid out a clear-eyed case for why borrowing costs have surged worldwide — and why the current trade war uncertainty is loading a second grenade on top of an already fragile global economy. Mainstream coverage is treating this like abstract finance news. It isn't. This hits your mortgage, your savings, and your job.

Federal Reserve Data: Hunger in America Is Now Worse Than During COVID Lockdowns

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just dropped numbers that should embarrass every politician in Washington. Food insecurity in February 2026 is higher than at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic — including the months of double-digit unemployment. The government killed the tracking report. Now the Fed is filling the void, and the numbers are ugly.

Iran War Oil Shock Hits Asia's Reserves and Debt Markets as BOJ Rate Hike Hangs in the Balance

The economic damage from the Iran war is now showing up in hard numbers: oil above $100 a barrel, Southeast Asian nations burning through 20-day fuel reserves, and central banks caught between inflation and recession. This isn't background noise anymore — it's a structural crisis reshaping Asian debt markets, Chinese oil demand, and global monetary policy in real time.

ECB Vice President De Guindos Puts June Rate Cut on the Table — But Flags Elevated Market Correction Risk

ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos told CNBC on Wednesday that weaker growth MUST be factored into the June meeting, while simultaneously warning that stock market correction risk is 'quite elevated.' This is new movement from Frankfurt — and the internal December 2025 meeting records reveal the ECB already stopped cutting rates six months ago, with markets now pricing in hikes by 2027. Regular people holding European assets should pay attention.

Gold Swings Wildly Between $4,524 and $4,717 as Iran Strikes New Shipping Targets, Fed Rate Hike Odds Hit 54%

The gold market entered a new phase of whipsaw volatility this week as Iran struck ships in the Strait of Hormuz and set a UAE oil port ablaze — the war's biggest escalation since the ceasefire four weeks ago. The dollar surged, oil jumped over 5%, and markets are now pricing a Fed rate hike before year-end at 54% odds. Gold's safe-haven story is colliding head-on with the inflation-and-rates story, and right now rates are winning.

ECB Board Member Isabel Schnabel Breaks Ranks, Publicly Calls for June Rate Hike as Eurozone Inflation Hits 3%

ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has gone on record calling for a rate hike at the June 11 meeting — a direct escalation from the cautious 'hold' the ECB just delivered in April. With eurozone inflation printing at 3% in April and energy prices driving the spike, the internal debate is no longer quiet. The question now is whether Schnabel can bring enough of the Governing Council with her.

Jerome Powell Says $39 Trillion Debt Path 'Will Not End Well' as Stanford Research Confirms the Math Has Flipped

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Harvard students on March 30, 2026 that America's $39 trillion debt load isn't immediately fatal — but the trajectory absolutely is. New research from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research confirms what Powell won't say outright: the interest rate has now surpassed the economic growth rate, and that flips the entire debt math from manageable to dangerous. Washington is still not closing the gap.

The Fed Rewired Markets and Wall Street's Old Rules No Longer Apply

The 60-year-old definition of a 'bear market' was built for a world without $6.7 trillion Fed balance sheets and CAPE ratios near 40. The Fed just held rates steady at 3.50%-3.75% while navigating inflation, a leadership transition, and Middle East uncertainty. Investors still using 20th-century frameworks to navigate a Fed-distorted 21st-century market are flying blind.

Indian Firms Ditch Fixed-Rate Bonds as Rate Hike Bets Surge — $888 Million Floating-Rate Push Signals Market Stress

Four major Indian non-banking finance companies are racing to raise ₹8,550 crore ($887.74 million) through floating-rate bonds this week — a direct response to surging swap rates pricing in 100 basis points of Reserve Bank of India hikes. Fixed-rate debt markets are effectively broken for some borrowers right now. This is what a bond market under inflation pressure looks like in real time.

Peter Navarro Calls Powell 'Worst Fed Chair in History,' Demands July Rate Cut as Warsh Confirmation Advances

Peter Navarro is publicly torching Jerome Powell, calling him the worst Federal Reserve chair in history and demanding a rate cut in July. The attack comes as Kevin Warsh's nomination for Fed Chair advances through the Senate — and the question of who actually controls monetary policy is about to get very loud.

Fed Minutes Reveal Rate Hike Talk Is Back: Most Divided Policy Meeting Since 1992 as Iran War Drives Inflation to 3.5%

The Federal Reserve's April 28-29 meeting minutes, released May 20, show a majority of policymakers now believe rate hikes may be necessary if inflation stays above 2% — with four dissents, the most since 1992. The PCE inflation gauge hit 3.5% in March and is projected to approach 4% by April's reading. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh inherits a central bank at war with itself.

After Gabbard's Exit: Senate Republicans Explode at DOJ, Stefanik Floated as Replacement, and Warsh Takes the Fed

The day Tulsi Gabbard's DNI resignation went public turned into a political wildfire on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans publicly torched acting AG Todd Blanche in a closed-door meeting, Sen. Jim Banks pitched Elise Stefanik as Gabbard's replacement, and Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Federal Reserve chair — all on the same Friday. Washington didn't slow down for a minute.

ECB Wage Data Shows Cooling Pay Pressures — But April Inflation Surge to 3% Complicates the Rate Cut Math

New ECB wage tracker data released May 6 shows negotiated wage growth slowing to 2.3%-2.6% in 2026, down from 3.2% in 2025 — exactly the 'soft landing' signal the ECB wanted. Problem: April inflation just hit 3.0%, the highest since September 2023, driven by a 10.8% energy price spike tied to Middle East conflict. The ECB now has cooling wages AND a fresh inflation shock at the same time. That's not a clean picture.

Japan's April Core Inflation Crashes to 1.4% — Four-Year Low That Complicates BOJ's Rate Hike Math

Japan's core inflation came in at 1.4% in April 2026, well below the 1.7% economists expected and the lowest reading since March 2022. That's a direct shot across the bow of any near-term Bank of Japan rate hike. The BOJ's own 2% target is now four straight months out of reach.

Global Bond Rout Deepens: German Yields Hit 15-Year High, Japan 30-Year at Record, Fed Rate Hike Now 50/50

The Iran war isn't just a military problem anymore — it's blowing up the global bond market in real time. On Monday, May 18, 2026, yields spiked across every major economy, the Fed is now more likely than not to raise rates by December, and the 'safe haven' status of government debt is officially in question. Regular people are about to feel this.

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