TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The US Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its benchmark rates at 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent today, in what will likely be the last chaired by Jerome Powell. The meeting will commence at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.
According to NBC News, Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Powell, whose tenure at the Fed is set to end on May 15, although his term as a governor remains until January 2028.
Powell earlier said he planned to be serving until his successor is confirmed, and until a criminal probe launched against him by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is “well and truly over, with transparency and finality.”
Powell said this in a press conference back in March, and a few days ago, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has ended its probe, which paves a clear path for the Trump-backed Kevin Warsh to replace Powell as chair.
Citing NPR, the probe into the Fed’s extensive building renovations is widely seen as part of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
In protest, Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, threatened to block a Senate Banking Committee vote to confirm Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor. But he conceded after the DOJ agreed to drop the case.
The Wednesday policy meeting of the rate-setting committee is likely to be overshadowed by expectations on Jerome Powell’s next move—whether he will stay on the Fed’s board—before the next meeting in mid-June.
Powell is regarded as a fierce defender of the central bank’s ability to act independently of the White House. “I will make that decision based on what I think is best for the institution and for the people we serve,” said Powell last month, as quoted from NPR on Wednesday, April 29.
His most prominent successor nominee, Warsh, also pledged independence. “The president never asked me to commit to interest rate cuts at any particular meeting over the period of my tenure at the Fed,” he told a confirmation hearing last week.
Although analysts have previously expected the Fed to make two rate cuts in 2026, the Iran war has changed the odds. USA Today, citing CME FedWatch, reported that the US central bank is unlikely to cut benchmark rates for the rest of 2026, holding the rates steady in the 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent range.
Read: US: Justice Dept Drops Investigation into Fed Chair Powell
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