Week In Review

There's a lot to unpack from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week. This was likely Jerome Powell's final meeting as Chair, but he commented that he will remain on as a Fed governor as President Trump's pick Kevin Warsh steps in to head the FOMC. The Fed's decision to leave interest rates unchanged this week was widely expected, but we are seeing division amongst the ranks. Both the decision on interest rates and the statement announcing the decision have to be voted on by the members of the committee. The vote for this decision was 8-4, the highest level of dissent in over 30 years. Of the 4 "no" votes, Stephen Miran, a Trump appointment serving since September 2025, voted for a cut to interest rates as he has at every meeting since joining the committee. The other 3 "no" votes came from Fed governors that agreed with the decision to leave rates unchanged but disagreed with part of the announcement that suggested the next change would be an interest rate cut. Following a year in which we saw the Fed cut rates 3 times, it now appears unlikely that we will see any change to interest rates in 2026. The FOMC's next meeting won't take place until mid-June, and we'll be hearing from and seeing a new face in Kevin Warsh, who President Trump is hoping will sway the committee to bring interest rates down further. Between dissenting governors and persistent inflation, he'll have his work cut (no pun intended) out for him.