logo
Trump will likely fire Fed's Powell soon, Bloomberg reports

Trump will likely fire Fed's Powell soon, Bloomberg reports

U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soon, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing an unidentified White House official.
Separately, CBS News reported that Trump had asked Republican lawmakers if he should fire Powell, and several people in the room said he indicated he will do it.
The meeting with members of the House of Representatives took place in the White House's Oval Office on Tuesday night, CBS reported, citing multiple sources.
Trump says Fed's Powell must lower interest rate
Trump has repeatedly criticized Federal Reserve monetary policy in recent months, angry over the central bank's refusal to cut interest rates. Fed officials have resisted cutting rates until there is clarity on whether Trump's tariffs on U.S. trading partners reignite inflation.
Trump has called for Powell to resign, but the president does not have the power to fire him over a monetary policy dispute.
Powell, who was nominated by Trump in late 2017 to lead the Fed and then nominated for a second term by Democratic President Joe Biden four years later, has said he intends to serve out his term as Fed chief, which ends on May 15, 2026.
Last week, the White House intensified its criticism of how the Fed is being run when the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, sent Powell a letter saying Trump was 'extremely troubled' by cost overruns in the $2.5 billion renovation of its historic headquarters in Washington.
Powell responded by asking the U.S. central bank's inspector general to review the project.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Gold rises on weaker US dollar
Gold rises on weaker US dollar

Business Recorder

time3 hours ago

  • Business Recorder

Gold rises on weaker US dollar

NEW YOR: Gold prices firmed on Monday, bolstered by a weaker US dollar, while investors sought clarity on trade developments ahead of an August 1 US tariff deadline. Spot gold was up 0.5% at $3,369.17 per ounce by 1114 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.5% to $3,376.30. 'The modest from a weaker US dollar. With the tariff August 1 deadline coming closer, the market focus will be if trade deals are announced, or tariffs are implemented,' said UBS commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo. The dollar eased 0.3% against a basket of other major currencies, making gold less expensive for their holders. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday he was confident the United States can secure a trade deal with the European Union, but August 1 is a hard deadline for tariffs to kick in. Gold, often considered a safe-haven asset during economic uncertainty, tends to do well in a low interest rate environment. The US Federal Reserve's next policy meeting is scheduled for July 29-30, following its decision to hold rates steady last month. 'Elevated inflation expectations and strong economic data are weighing on expectations around the number of Fed rate cuts this year. Despite this, the buy-on-dip strategy remains in place, protecting downside risks for gold prices,' ANZ analysts said in a note. Last week, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he still believed that the US central bank should cut rates next week. Data showed that top consumer China's imports of gold fell for a second successive month in June. China's imports of platinum in June fell 6.1% from the prior month. Spot silver gained 0.8% to $38.47 per ounce, platinum rose 1.6% to $1,444.11 and palladium was 2.1% higher at $1,266.91.

Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties
Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties

Business Recorder

time3 hours ago

  • Business Recorder

Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump's lunch meeting with Pakistan's military chief prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said. The meeting and other tensions in the US-India relationship, after decades of flourishing ties, have cast a shadow in trade negotiations, they said, as Trump's administration weighs tariffs against one of its major partners in the Indo-Pacific. India blames Pakistan, especially its military establishment, for supporting what it calls cross-border terrorism and has told the US it is sending the wrong signals by wooing Field Marshal Asim Munir, three senior Indian government officials directly aware of the matter told Reuters. It has created a sore spot that will hamper relations going forward, they said. Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militants who attack Indian targets and that New Delhi has provided no evidence that it is involved. US-India ties have strengthened in the past two decades despite minor hiccups, at least partly because both countries seek to counter China. The current problems are different, said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation think tank. 'The frequency and intensity with which the US is engaging with Pakistan, and seemingly not taking Indian concerns into account, especially after India's recent conflict with Pakistan, has contributed to a bit of a bilateral malaise.' 'The concern this time around is that one of the triggers for broader tensions, that being Trump's unpredictability, is extending into the trade realm with his approach to tariffs,' he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The foreign ministry has previously said that it had 'taken note' of the Trump-Munir meeting. A US official said they do not comment on private diplomatic communications and that the United States enjoys strong relationships with both India and Pakistan. 'These relationships stand on their own merits, and we do not compare our bilateral relationships with one another,' the US official said. The US seems to have taken a different tack on Pakistan after a brief conflict broke out between the nuclear-armed rivals in May when India launched strikes on what it called terrorist targets across the border in response to a deadly attack on tourists from the majority Hindu community in Indian Kashmir the previous month. After four days of aerial dogfights, missile and drone attacks, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire. Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have skirmished regularly and fought three full-scale wars since independence in 1947, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region. A few weeks after the May fighting, Trump hosted Munir for lunch at the White House, a major boost in ties with the country, which had largely languished under Trump's first term and Joe Biden. It was the first time a US president had hosted the head of Pakistan's army, considered the most powerful man in the country, at the White House unaccompanied by senior Pakistani civilian officials. Indian leaders have said Munir's view of India and Pakistan is steeped in religion. 'Tourists were murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith,' Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in May, referring to the Kashmir attack. 'To understand that, you've got to also have a Pakistani leadership, especially their army chief, who is driven by an extreme religious outlook'. Pakistan says it is Modi who is driven by religious extremism, and that his brand of Hindu nationalism has trampled on the rights of India's large Muslim minority. Modi and the Indian government say they do not discriminate against minorities.

European shares end lower as investors assess mixed earnings
European shares end lower as investors assess mixed earnings

Business Recorder

time3 hours ago

  • Business Recorder

European shares end lower as investors assess mixed earnings

FRANKFURT: European shares ended a choppy session in the red on Monday, as investors weighed a mixed bag of corporate earnings and keenly awaited the outcome of ongoing trade negotiations between the US and the European Union. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.1% lower, as a drop in healthcare stocks such as Roche and Novonordisk offset gains in mining companies. Traders were gearing up for a week filled with corporate updates in both Europe and the US and will scrutinize company reports for any clues on the impact trade uncertainty has had on profitability and consumer demand. On Monday, Stellantis said it expects a net loss of 2.3 billion euros ($2.68 billion) for the first half of 2025 as the automaker faced the dual challenge of revamping its product ranges while also dealing with the impact of US tariffs. Shares of the automaker were volatile throughout the day and settled about 1.5% higher. Ryanair jumped 5.7% after Europe's largest low-cost carrier reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled. Other airline stocks such as Lufthansa and EasyJet gained about 1% each. Meanwhile, trade negotiations were high on the radar as diplomats said that the EU is exploring wide-ranging 'anti-coercion' measures which would let the bloc target US services or curb access to public tenders in the absence of a deal. US President Donald Trump has threatened 30% duties on imports from Europe if no agreement is signed before the August 1 deadline. 'The question ultimately boils down to whether the EU can swallow an unbalanced outcome which is tilted in favour of the US, or whether Trump would accept some form of EU countermeasures without ratcheting up tariffs further,' said Henry Cook, senior economist at MUFG bank.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store