President Donald Trump’s handpicked chair of the Fed is off to a rough start after a major economic face-plant on Wednesday, according to a new report.
Kevin Warsh’s second news conference as Federal Reserve chairman was met with dismay as he lectured reporters about the Fed’s commitment to fighting inflation and financial markets immediately called his bluff, the New York Times reported Thursday.
“We are going to be judged by how we perform,” said Warsh.
He attempted to frame the central bank’s role in performative terms as he announced Fed held rates would be held steady at between 3.5 to 3.75 percent, the Times reported.
That’s when the $28 trillion U.S. government bond market delivered a swift and humiliating verdict.
“Long-term government borrowing costs shot higher as Mr. Warsh spoke, with the 30-year bond notching its largest one-day increase in more than a year,” the Times reported.
“Trading around 5.22 percent, it is at the highest level since 2007,” the report noted. “The 10-year Treasury yield, which serves as the benchmark for borrowing costs around the world, also rose alongside expectations about inflation over a longer time horizon.”
Lael Brainard, who served as Fed vice chair before joining the Biden administration argued Warsh had made a simple mistake.
“The markets initially interpreted the price stability tough talk as someone who was willing to take the necessary action to address inflation and then was surprised that there wasn’t follow through,” she said.
Mark Cabana, an interest rate strategist at Bank of America, elaborated on that and offered a more brutal assessment to the Times.
“As a central banker, this is exactly what you don’t want,” he said. “You don’t want the market questioning your inflation credibility.”
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