Watch Live: Fed Chair Powell's Last Press Conference
With Kevin Warsh having won the backing of the Senate Banking Committee on a 13-11 party-line vote to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, it's pretty much a done deal that this will be Jerome Powell's final press conference as Fed Chair.
And while The Fed took no action - as 100% expected - the question remains whether Powell will lean hawkish (oil crisis means inflation tsunami) or dovish (higher costs drag on economy and need support) despite the most dissents (3 hawkish-er, 1 dovish-er) since 1992...
“The stink of stagflation is in the air,” Senator Elizabeth Warren warned, adding that confirmation of Warsh would help Trump dominate the Fed’s monetary policy.
The combination of Warsh’s calls for a smaller balance sheet, new ways to think about inflation and communication changes put the onus on Warsh to make clear he’ll defend the Fed’s independence, said EY-Parthenon Chief Economist Gregory Daco.
“Taken together, this points to a more centralized, less transparent and potentially more politically-exposed policy framework,” he said.
But all of that is for another day as today is Powell's big finale where he will likely note both the upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to the labor market and growth.
But which way will he lean?
If Powell's final comments mirror those of Daly ( that if policy were left unchanged all year, “that would be a good restraint on inflation, but not so restrictive to hurt the labor market”), markets would read that as very hawkish.
We shall see... for now, the market is not leaning one way or another with zero rate-changes priced in until at least 2027.
Finally, Powell might get asked whether he has decided how long he will stay on at the Fed as a Governor. He will likely respond that he doesn't have anything to add to his comments from the March press conference.
Watch Fed Chair Powell's final press conference live here (due to start at 1400ET):



