The latest minutes from the Federal Reserve's September meeting suggest policymakers are leaning toward further rate cuts this year. While most officials backed the quarter-point reduction, the discussion reflected growing concern about labour market risks and a more balanced inflation outlook. The tone overall was cautious but pointed to a continued easing bias. Most participants judged it would likely be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of 2025. Some participants noted financial conditions suggested policy may not be particularly restrictive. Those participants...
U.S. President Donald Trump's nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, economist Stephen Miran, was approved by the Senate in a narrow vote on Monday evening. Miran's appointment to the Fed board was approved in a 48-47 vote, with the confirmation now allowing him to participate in the Fed's September 16-17 meeting. Miran was nominated by Trump to fill a seat abruptly vacated by former Fed governor Adriana Kugler, with his term set to expire in January 2026, when the seat's original term ends. Miran currently serves as the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), and...
U.S. President Donald Trump cannot fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an appeals court ruled on Monday, allowing her to remain on the central bank's board for a closely-watched policy meeting this week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 ruling denied the Department of Justice's request to hold an earlier ruling blocking Trump from removing Cook. Monday's ruling came just a week after a district judge also ruled against Cook's firing. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb had last week ruled that Trump's allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook, which...
After a nine-month pause, the US Federal Reserve is expected to resume its cycle of interest rate cuts this week. The big question is how far will it go? US President Trump has already made it clear that he wants to see cuts to a key interest rate of around 1% (from the current 4.25-4.50%), and probably as quickly as possible. Given the risk of stagflation in the wake of US tariffs, such a sharp easing of monetary policy would be disastrous for the US Dollar (USD), Commerzbank's Head of FX and Commodity Research Thu Lan Nguyen notes. Trump wants the Fed to help the Treasury finance the...
The U.S. Federal Reserve holds its latest policy meeting this week with a historic challenge to its leadership pending in the courts and a rushed effort underway to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee to fill an open seat on the central bank's Board of Governors. The Fed is confronting a potentially intense pace of change between Trump's attempted firing of Governor Lisa Cook and the Senate's move to approve his nominee for a separate open seat. The move against Cook is both a first-of-its-kind test of the Fed's independence but also potentially disruptive to how the central bank is...
The Fed will be in the spotlight this week, as markets are now all but certain that the central bank will slash interest rates at the end of its latest two-day gathering on Wednesday. Underpinned by signs of a softening U.S. labor market, policymakers are widely anticipated to back the first rate cut since an easing cycle was paused in December. Bringing down rates can, in theory, help spur investment and hiring. However, a reduction can risk pushing up inflationary pressures at the same time. Last week, a monthly U.S. consumer price index reading accelerated slightly due to an uptick in...
President Donald Trump said he would fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors if she does not resign her post over mortgage-fraud accusations from a top...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market...