emphasized<\/a> the Federal Reserve\u2019s institutional independence and addressed concerns about potential presidential influence over monetary policy. An announcement on the next Fed chair is expected in mid-January, according to reports.<\/p>\nWhen asked whether President Donald Trump\u2019s opinions could carry weight inside the Fed, Hassett responded, \u201cNo, no, he would have no weight. It\u2019s just his opinion matters if it\u2019s good, you know, if it\u2019s based on data.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hassett explained that any policy argument would be judged on its merits by the Federal Open Market Committee\u2019s 12 voting members. \u201cIf you go to the committee and you say, well, the president made this argument and that\u2019s a really sound argument, I think, what do you think? If they reject it, then they\u2019ll vote in a different way,\u201d Hassett said.<\/p>\n
The race to succeed current Fed Chair Jerome Powell has narrowed, according to Trump\u2019s recent statements. On Friday, Trump told The Wall Street Journal the competition had come down to two frontrunners from four finalists: Hassett and former Fed governor Kevin Warsh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I think he is,\u201d Trump said when asked if Warsh was at the top of his list, according to the Journal. \u201cI think you have Kevin and Kevin. They\u2019re both \u2014 I think the two Kevins are great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prediction markets have tracked the contest closely. Earlier this month, platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket showed Hassett with odds as high as 85% of becoming the next Fed chair. Those odds declined following Trump\u2019s public praise of Warsh. At the time of writing, Hassett led on Polymarket with a 52% probability, while Warsh followed at 39%, according to the platform.<\/p>\n
Trump stated in the Wall Street Journal interview that the next Fed chair should consult with him on interest rate decisions. \u201cTypically, that\u2019s not done anymore. It used to be done routinely. It should be done,\u201d Trump said, according to the report. \u201cI don\u2019t think he should do exactly what we say. But certainly we\u2019re \u2014 I\u2019m a smart voice and should be listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points last Wednesday, bringing the target range to 3.5%\u20133.75%. Cryptocurrency markets remained largely flat in the days following the decision, according to market data.<\/p>\n
Powell said at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting that \u201cin the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside, a challenging situation. There is no risk-free path for policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump indicated he wants further rate cuts in 2026, according to the Wall Street Journal. Speaking about Warsh, Trump said, \u201cHe thinks you have to lower interest rates. And so does everybody else that I\u2019ve talked to,\u201d the Journal reported.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kevin Hassett defends Fed independence as Trump weighs him and Kevin Warsh for chair, prediction markets shift, and fresh rate cuts keep crypto in wait-and-see mode.\u200b Summary Kevin Hassett, now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17948,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17947\/revisions\/17948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}