Two Fed Governors are open to July rate cuts adding to the pressure on Powell.
Fed Governor Waller on Rate Cuts
CNBC reports Fed Governor Waller Says Central Bank Could Cut Rates as Early as July.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Friday that he doesn’t expect tariffs to boost inflation significantly so policymakers should be looking to lower interest rates as early as next month.
“I think we’re in the position that we could do this as early as July,” Waller said during a “Squawk Box” interview with CNBC’s Steve Liesman. “That would be my view, whether the committee would go along with it or not.”
“If you’re starting to worry about the downside risk [to the] labor market, move now, don’t wait,” he said. “Why do we want to wait until we actually see a crash before we start cutting rates? So I’m all in favor of saying maybe we should start thinking about cutting the policy rate at the next meeting, because we don’t want to wait till the job market tanks before we start cutting the policy rate.”
Fed’s Bowman Open to Cutting Rates at July Policy Meeting
Reuters reports Fed’s Bowman Open to Cutting Rates at July Policy Meeting
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, recently elevated by President Donald Trump as the central bank’s top bank overseer, said Monday the time to cut interest rates appears imminent as she is growing more worried about labor market risks and less concerned high import taxes will cause an ongoing inflation problem.
Bowman said inflation appears to be on a sustained path back to 2% and she said she expects “only minimal impact” on inflation from trade policy. “Should inflation pressures remain contained, I would support lowering the policy rate as soon as our next meeting in order to bring it closer to its neutral setting and to sustain a healthy labor market,” Bowman said.
Bowman also said Trump’s policy mix is likely to have a positive impact on the outlook. “Less restrictive regulations, lower business taxes, and a more friendly business environment will likely boost supply and largely offset any negative effects on economic activity and prices,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s openness to cutting rates soon is joined by that of Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who said in a television interview Friday he’d also consider a rate cut at the July 29-30 meeting. Waller is widely considered to be in the running to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends next year.
A Goldman Sachs economist said in a note that the next few months will be telling for the price pressure outlook, telling clients in a note Monday that “we expect the largest tariff effects on monthly inflation to show up from June through August.”
Trump’s Rants
Donald J. Trump – Truth Social: June 18, 2025, 11:56 PM
Too Late—Powell is the WORST. A real dummy, who’s costing America $Billions!
Donald J. Trump – Truth Social: June 19, 2025, 10:04 AM
“Too Late” Jerome Powell is costing our Country Hundreds of Billions of Dollars. He is truly one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government, and the Fed Board is complicit. Europe has had 10 cuts, we have had none. We should be 2.5 Points lower, and save $BILLIONS on all of Biden’s Short Term Debt. We have LOW inflation! TOO LATE’s an American Disgrace!
Donald J. Trump – Truth Social: : June 20, 2025, 5:58 PM
“Too Late” Powell complains about costs, much of which were produced by the Biden Fake “Government,” but he could do the biggest and best job for our Country by helping to lower Interest Rates and, if he reduced them to the number they should be, 1% to 2%, that “numbskull” would be saving the United States of America up to $1 Trillion Dollars per year. I fully understand that my strong criticism of him makes it more difficult for him to do what he should be doing, lowering Rates, but I’ve tried it all different ways. I’ve been nice, I’ve been neutral, and I’ve been nasty, and nice and neutral didn’t work! He’s a dumb guy, and an obvious Trump Hater, who should have never been there, I listened to someone that I shouldn’t have listened to, and Biden shouldn’t have reappointed him. We have virtually No Inflation, our Economy is doing really well, and will soon be doing, with the tremendous Tariff Income coming in, and Factories being built all over the Country, better than it has ever done before. If he was concerned about Inflation or anything else, then all he has to do is bring the Rate down, so we can benefit on Interest Costs, and raise it in the future when and if these “other elements” happen (which I doubt they will!). Don’t say that you think there will be Inflation sometime in the future, because there isn’t now but, if there is, raise the Rates! We should be at the TOP of the attached List, not the bottom. I don’t know why the Board doesn’t override this Total and Complete Moron! Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have to change my mind about firing him? But regardless, his Term ends shortly!
Howard Lutnick Secretary of Commerce
The United States of America is the greatest country in the world yet it has to suffer with the highest interest rates of any first class country. Our Federal Reserve Chair is obviously afraid of his own shadow. What was really sad about Powell’s comments is that he stated that tariffs contributed to “price increases in some of the relevant categories, like personal computers.” You would think Powell would know that there are no tariffs on personal computers. They currently don’t exist. Semiconductors and computer tariffs come out after the Commerce Department finishes its analysis. These high Interest Rates make no sense. Enough is enough!!!
Bill Pulte U.S. Director of Federal Housing FHFA
June 21, X: Wells Fargo and Tom Lee are now disagreeing with the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, on his fanciful (no data) claims of an inflation shock. Powell must resign.
Bill Pulte U.S. Director of Federal Housing FHFA
June 23, 2025 X: With momentum building for Powell’s immediate resignation and with Federal Reserve Governors Waller and Bowman’s data-driven statements supporting Rate Cuts, it is clear that Powell’s political bias against our great President needs to be looked at.
Call to Resign
My Reply to Pulte
Powell Appears Before Congress this Week
This week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will head to Congress for two days of hearings as required under the Humphrey–Hawkins Act.
Powell meets the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.
Powell is likely to face questions about the Fed’s recent decision to hold interest rates steady, potential impacts of the US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict on the economy, and the Fed’s independence from political influence.
Tense Meetings
The meetings are likely to be tense because on top of Trump’s taunts, two Fed governors are discussing cuts.
Also FHFA director Bill Pulte calls on Powell to resign and Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce says “Powell is obviously afraid of his own shadow.“
Unprecedented Attack on Fed’s Independence
Some small amount of pressure on the Fed from the President is normal. However, this is an unprecedented attack, with unprecedented language, from unprecedented administration officials including the President.
Trump has also discussed firing Powell and naming a replacement early.
Powell’s term as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ends on May 15, 2026. His term as a member of the Board of Governors ends on January 31, 2028.
If Trump fired Powell, the Supreme Court has already indicated it would side with the Fed. That’s the only reason Trump is unlikely to do it. But no one can say for sure because Trump acts out of anger and can easily be goaded into reacting.
Powell has about 11 months remaining. To undercut Powell, Trump could name a vocal replacement early.
Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman are the obvious candidates. There is only one real qualification for the job now. Do what Trump wants.
End the Fed
I fully endorse ending the Fed, but with one proviso. End the Fed and replace it with nothing. The free market can set rates.
The one thing worse than a clueless Fed is a central bank run by government nannycrats. And that includes Trump.
Trump is economically clueless. But even if you disagree, making the Fed subservient to the President means that someday someone like Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, or Kamala Harris will be setting interest rates.
As long as we are going to have a Fed, it needs to be independent. That makes Trump wildly out of control. And so are Pulte and Lutnick.
In Defense of a Clueless Fed
I am in the uncomfortable position of defending a Fed that I think is clueless.
However, Trump is not only economically clueless, but recklessly unpredictable. No one can say what Trump’s tariff policy or deportation policies will ultimately be or how the market and consumers will react to that.
Stagflation is not out of the question nor is a deflationary collapse. Regardless, a quarter-point cut will not make a difference.
Related Posts
June 18, 2025: Fed Projects Higher Unemployment and Higher Inflation Citing Tariffs
The Fed’s outlook has soured vs its March forecast. “We expect a meaningful rise in inflation in the coming months,” said Powell.
June 21, 2025: Record Deficits as Far as the Eye Can See and Trump Begs for More
Let’s investigate CBO deficit projections vs what actually happened.
June 20, 2025: Did the Fed Just Predict a Recession for Later this Year?
The Fed does not “predict”, but its GDP projections say “yes”.
The Fed has destroyed the financial prospects of young Americans as the Beltway and Bankers earn trillions from high interest rates, brokering imports of goods of services and kickbacks at every step. It’s all covered up by 24/7 hate on the Thump (some well earned) and a corrupt Beltway and their media parrots. The Fed is just a cog in the wheel of corruption.
It saddens me that America’s youth have lost forever the high real incomes and great homes that my fellow Baby Boomers enjoy(ed).
I believe free floating rates would be better. Since we don’t have free floating rates, the next best thing would be a fed that adjusts to free floating rates. Since we don’t have that the next best thing would be a responsive fed that has the attitude “we can change course next week if necessary”. We don’t have any of that. Why so stagnant, in an in-stagnant world? Be ready for change, stay flexible. What’s wrong with a little testing, etc.? That’s pretty good guidance for everyone except the fed, I guess. Stable as she goes for the fed.
These Federal Reserve governors and the politicians are ridiculous. There is no way that they should have ever allowed these rates to go as low as they did. It pushed asset prices up and reduced the purchasing power of the dollar. Gold at $3500.00 per ounce should tell you everything you need to know. Trump’s call for lower interest rates is completely self serving because he thinks it will juice the economy under his watch. All it will do is re-ignite inflation and defer retirements and investments and push people further down the economic ladder.
I’m in the minority that think that the Federal Reserve is a venerable institution that does an extremely difficult job. I am glad they are on our side and not China’s or Russia’s because they are immensely more powerful than anyone knows. Trump might think twice before messing with them!
Napoleon thumbed his nose at the banks that supported him and quickly found his Waterloo… 😉
That said, they do control the economy and have a history of blowing huge bubbles that destabilize the middle class when the bubbles burst.
In the Housing crisis from 2008 – 2012 the TBTF banks were made whole on their loans and American citizens lost their homes to the banks which sold them to corporate interests in sweetheart deals.
Covid was a different bubble and credit/currency creation was way overdone under Trump ($4.5 trillion) and Biden ($2 trillion). Insane inflation followed.
Now when it comes to absorbing the inflation in money supply they seem to have done an exceptional job. I expected a massive crash under Biden and they have walked back a huge amount ($3 trillion) of the covid stimulus.
The last thing I want is trump to control the Federal Reserve. That would be the bubble that destroys our financial system and enables the banks to take another big chunk of the housing supply for corporate rentals.
Thats my .02
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Of course Pulte wants cheap rate for his business interests
Before his appointment, Pulte had a longstanding career in homebuilding, housing products, and community development. In 2011, he founded Pulte Capital Partners LLC, an investment firm focused on building and housing products. He also served on the board of Pulte Homes, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest homebuilders in the country.
Cynical distraction to induce public euphoria (stocks up!) to slide the Big Beautiful Bill under the door. Then comes stagflation.
Of course he wants lower interest rates for the builders, his family is one of the biggest National Wall Street builders in the US
What does that even mean?
Google is your friend. Pulte Homes is a publicly traded homebuilder.
Waller’s statement, the most galling, is the admission of the assymetric response of the loose-bias Fed. They labeled massive inflation as transitory for well over a year before ever acting, and then tepidly to start. They have no problem waiting then. But now they want to act before the labor market has rolled over. It’s only hinting it could in the environment of >2.4% inflation but their primary mandate is price stability. They threw the employment dual-mandate bs in there and that gets us in quite the quandry.
Wait until September when you’ll have clarity on the SCOTUS tariff ruling, this Iran thing will have advanced to a clearer picture and we will have reacahed the CR deadline and should have something fiscally known. To move now before those 3 things have resolved, all of which would impact prices more than labor, seems premature but, well, that’s the Fed, loving the inflation sticking around.
Correct!
With the deportation of so much of our skilled and unskilled labor force the job market will only get tighter.
Sometimes Trump plays against himself while playing checkers with chess pieces.
But that is what happens when a b-movie actor gets elected…
Dumb ass moves all around.
Compared to the amount of immigrants that were allowed in by the uniparty, and yes the republicans and democrats both wanted most of them coming in to increase production, the number being deported and that will be deported when all said and done, is miniscule. These deportations are just a token amount to appease the red voters and stir the blue, so theyll go back and vote for the deficit spending debt monger dollar debasing uniparty again next time. It’s silly and obvious.
Of course Pulte wants lower rates. Mortgage held by the government have declined in value with rising rates.
Pluto’s interest is in his private financial affairs not his public role. FHFA isn’t going to go broke over asset valuation changes.
LOL I typed Pulte and the AI auto spelled that to Pluto. But he is a Plutocrat.
Our country’s problem with interest payments would be made easier in the near term with lower rates, but lower rates would incentivize congress to incrementally borrow and spend more which over time would more than offset any temporary gains from lower rates because the debt is never paid down. At 4%, every $2 trillion adds $80 billion annual debt service cost, pointing to the fact our debt and deficit load is now on an unsustainable path with compounding interest working against the US taxpayer. Lowering interest rates is not the solution to our debt and deficit problem, nor is raising taxes as per the federal reserve, income tax revenue never exceeds 20% of GDP no matter the rate. The only solution is to reduce spending below revenue.
+1000. Well said.
However, Congress gets paid on-the-side from the pork barrel, so they won’t cut spending unless forced.
Good point
There you go, thinking like a rational, responsible adult again. This is the Age of Stupid, fall in line!
So are you still referring to Trump as “TACO” as the Iranians and media do?
Yes.
This is unrelated to all of the other stuff he backed down on. Iran had no cards and was an easy target.
If Iran had no cards, why did Bibi cry uncle or cry for Uncle Sam for a ceasefire first, per Israeli media?
The country that has the advantage in a war doesn’t ask for ceasefire. It is the country that is losing the war that asks first. See Ukraine – Russia War as prima facie. See Confederate States vs the Union. See Germany vs Allies in WW I. See Japan vs US in WW II.
Powell knows his days are numbered until May of next year. I hope he has the backbone to not cowtow to the wishes of the two lackeys who are vying for his job.
The economy needs a little inflation in order to function. Ending the FED is stupid.
That said, look at Ted Cruz trying to eliminate the payment of interest on reserve balances. That needs to be passed.
Agree with no iorb but Why is any inflation needed?
Finally. I want my 5%;mortgage bitches
And the clowns promoting a July cut are just bucking for Powell’s job when he gets booted next May. Their tongues are brown.
The problem with this solution is that the market always reacts immediately but takes time to stabilize, sometimes weeks to months. Interest rates would be all over the place, going up and down daily and making it difficult to do business.
The FED provides stability, which is a requisite for any potential replacement.
So how do soybeans and corn get bought and sold daily? Farmers get the instability and yet produce. Currency markets move daily and they are the largest market overall. Bought and sold daily. Bond market rates move every single day, all day. As liquid and fluid as the Mississippi. I’d rather have a liquid, fluid, short-term up/down moving market than one that is artificially held down or held up ala Econ 101 price ceilings and floors.
We absolutely would be able to have markets handle rates just as easily as those mentioned. Or are only farmers subject to the whims of the commodity market or bondholders beholden to the daily price fluctuations. Hells bells the precious, protected stock market moves on the daily and even in the overnight hours.
I’m throwing a flag that we need stability–the second you do that you end up with a different brand of manipulation. Markets have market-down circuit breakers and commodities markets have market-up/market-down limitations and that suffices.
Excellent reply Bill.
I seem to recall you being quite upset at the instability that Trump’s tariffs imposed on business owners and their inability to plan for the future.
The same thing would happen with interest rates if they were allowed to fluctuate by the second!
Trump is ping-ponging between 10% and 145%
Interest rates would be nothing like that.
And market based rates are just that – not artificial like tariffs.
Sure thing. It will be great to see someone buy a house on Monday and pay one interest rate and their neighbor a few days later pays 1 point higher or lower, perhaps because the President decided to bomb a country. Interest rates would jump in this example occurrence and depending on what happens next, may settle back or may not. But the house buyer may not have the option to delay their purchase.
This would make for a lot of unhappy people.
Jesus, look what the Fed did.
Market based rates never would have gotten as low as what the Fed did, or negative in the EU and Japan.
And mortgage rates would not swing by a point.
You are assuming interest rates would be volatile based on what? Are savings especially volatile? Is the demand for loans volatile? Mostly not. But if for some reason they become that way, don’t you want the interest rate to express the truth?
The Fed introduces volatility by printing up $s ex nihilo and buying debt with artificial savings that steal the value of real savings. Is that healthy for an economy?
Agree. It’s economic cocaine, very unhealthy. They want growth but this causes cancerous growth.
Disagree, house prices way too high for ordinary people because of fed rate repression and free market rates wouldve deterred the cheap debt fueled speculation and hoarding that fueled it. People would be happy they can afford a home.
Forcing businesses to be more conservative, especially banks, would dramatically reduce risk to the taxpayers. Let the rates float.
And short term rates would remain much more stable than long term rates, just by the nature of being short-term. Not worried about that.