Kevin Warsh Pledges Independence But Dodges Questions on Rates

<p>The people, companies and trends shaping the global economy.</p> <p>Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube:&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/3vTiACF">http://bit.ly/3vTiACF</a>.</p> <p>Kevin Warsh repeatedly pledged to act independently if he&rsquo;s confirmed as the next Federal Reserve chair, rejecting Democratic concerns he would be a &ldquo;sock puppet&rdquo; for President Donald Trump, who continues to demand lower interest rates.</p> <p>Warsh, in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, called for a slew of changes to the way the US central bank makes its decisions, including a new framework for dealing with persistent inflation and a new way of communicating with the public. But he provided few specifics and avoided answering questions about the near-term path of interest rates.</p> <p>He also insisted the president never asked him to commit to any particular rate decision.&ldquo;The president nominated me for the position, and I&rsquo;ll be an independent actor if confirmed as chairman of the Federal Reserve,&rdquo; Warsh said, in response to questions from Democrats about how he planned to handle pressure from Trump.</p> <p>In her opening remarks, the senior Democrat on the panel, Senator Elizabeth Warren said Warsh would be Trump&rsquo;s &ldquo;sock puppet&rdquo; at the Fed.</p> <p>&ldquo;Kevin Warsh hit all the right notes to reassure his supporters on the committee that he will push forward his idea of regime change at the Fed,&rdquo; Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. &ldquo;He said nothing that will disrupt his path to being approved, if it makes it to the floor of the Senate.&rdquo;</p> <p>Treasuries fell as strong economic data and higher oil prices prompted traders to scale back rate-cut expectations, overshadowing testimony from Warsh. The policy-sensitive two-year note climbed as much as seven basis points to 3.79% as US crude oil rose back above $90 a barrel.</p> <p>Today's show features:</p> <ul> <li>Michael McKee, Bloomberg TV and Radio International Economics &amp; Policy Correspondent on Kevin Warsh's Hearing</li> <li>Jitania Kandhari, Deputy CIO of Solutions and Multi-Asset Group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management</li> <li>Mark Gurman, Bloomberg News Managing Editor for Global Consumer Tech, on Apple Names John Ternus as new CEO</li> <li>Samantha Dart, Co-Head of Global Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs</li> <li>Anil Chakravarthy, President of Digital Experiences Business at Adobe on the company&rsquo;s Agentic AI Strategy</li> </ul><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>