"Fed Whisperer": With Powell staying

Jinse Finance reported that on April 30, Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal's chief economics correspondent in Washington and widely known as the “Fed whisperer,” published another article on the latest Federal Reserve meeting. He pointed out that uncertainties surrounding the direction of interest rates and the handover of power are emerging simultaneously. On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear at a press conference that he will not step down immediately and will continue to serve as a governor after completing the chairmanship transition next month. This decision breaks with a 75-year tradition in which outgoing chairs have always fully left the central bank when their successors take over.At the same time, multiple Fed officials have sent a consistent signal: there will be no rate cuts in the short term. Three of Powell’s colleagues publicly objected to the wording of policy communications, opposing any continued suggestion that the probability of rate cuts is higher than that of rate hikes. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan indicated that, with rising energy prices, core inflation remaining around 3%, and the ongoing effects of tariffs, it will be difficult for monetary policy to shift to an easing stance.Timiraos noted that incoming chairman Kevin Warsh thus faces a dual constraint. On the one hand, the White House wants to see rate cuts; on the other hand, a more hawkish consensus has emerged within the Federal Open Market Committee.