Jay Powell vows to remain on Federal Reserve board as he warns over Trump’s attacks
Jay Powell has vowed to continue as a Federal Reserve governor as he used his last meeting as the central bank’s chair to issue his most strident rebuke of Donald Trump’s attacks on the institution.
The Fed chief warned in a press conference on Wednesday that the central bank is being “battered” by the Trump administration’s repeated “legal assaults” on the world’s most important central bank. He said there were “widespread concerns” among officials that the blitz would continue.
“I think it’s at risk,” Powell said when asked about whether Fed independence is as strong now as when he became chair in 2018, adding that the central bank was having to “resort to the courts” in an attempt to push back against Trump’s government.
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US stocks and Treasuries weaker as Powell’s press conference ends
US stocks and Treasuries were weaker at the end of Jay Powell’s final press conference as Federal Reserve chair.
The S&P 500 was down 0.2 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite had shed 0.1 per cent.
The yield on the two-year US Treasury, which is sensitive to monetary policy expectations, was up 0.1 percentage points at 3.94 per cent.
Powell warns Fed independence is under fire amid repeated legal attacks
Jay Powell warned Federal Reserve independence was under fire as the central bank was “battered” by repeated legal attacks but said it would continue to fight political efforts to influence its decision-making.
“I think it’s at risk,” he said of Fed independence. “I think these legal assaults . . . the institution is being battered over these things. We’re having to resort to the courts.”
Powell said the Fed had been “successful so far” in its efforts to “make monetary policy without political considerations”.
“I am confident that . . . the Fed will continue to make its decision based on analysis, rigorous analysis, and not on political considerations,” he added.
“But we’ve had to fight for it. And I’d like to think that we can get out of that era and go back to respecting what the law says and what custom has been, which is to let the Fed do our thing.”