Trump has unleashed a pressure campaign on the central bank to cut rates, repeatedly assailing Powell and arguing the Fed's policies are keeping government borrowing costs too high
Stock market highlights on Thursday, June 26, 2025: Bank Nifty jumped 1.13 per cent to scale an intra-day high of 57,263.45, before ending at 57,206.70, up 1.03 per cent
A fourth straight meeting without a cut could provoke another tirade from President Donald Trump
Brent crude futures gained $1.28, or 1.96 per cent, to $66.62 a barrel by 1649 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $1.34, or 2.11 per cent, to $64.71
The US dollar weakened broadly, hitting a more than one-week low against the safe-haven yen, Swiss franc and euro. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was down 0.38 per cent at 145.06
US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rates steady at 4.25% – 4.5%. Watch the video to know the key highlights from the US Federal Reserve's May meeting.
The rate-setting panel voted unanimously to keep the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent, where it's been since December
Gold prices surged Rs 2,400 to Rs 99,750 per 10 grams in the national capital on Tuesday due to persistent buying by jewellers and stocks, according to the All India Sarafa Association. On Monday, the precious metal of 99.9 per cent purity had ended at Rs 97,350 per 10 grams. Extending the gains for the third straight day, gold of 99.5 per cent purity jumped Rs 2,400 to Rs 99,300 per 10 grams on Tuesday. It had closed at Rs 96,900 per 10 grams in the previous close. "Gold prices edged higher as safe-haven demand returned following President Donald Trump's announcement of fresh tariff plans. "The proposed measures include duties on pharmaceutical imports and a steep 100 per cent tariff on movies produced outside the United States -- a move that stoked concerns over renewed trade tensions and their potential impact on global growth," Abans Financial Services' Chief Executive Officer Chintan Mehta said. As per the Sarafa Association, silver prices also climbed Rs 1,800 to Rs 98,500 p
Powell delivered an impassioned defense of central bank independence when he addressed policymakers and finance ministers during a meeting on Friday
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said central banks faced a delicate moment in managing inflation, especially in countries like the United States
Trump, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, reiterated his stance on rate cuts, saying that Powell should have lowered interest rates
US stocks were in positive territory early, with investors weighing whether recent sharp selling may have been overdone, although trading remained choppy as it has been all week
Tariff hikes are plain news as the historic precedent of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 highlights. This is an impoverishment day, not a liberation day, Wood said in his weekly note GREED & fear.
Powell said it was not the Fed's role to comment on the Trump administration's policies but rather to react to how they might affect an economy that he and his colleagues made comment about
Fed policymakers signaled a cautious stance of their own on Wednesday at a policy meeting that left interest rates unchanged but acknowledged rising risks to both growth and inflation
Taking stock of the Trump administration's rollout of tariffs, Fed officials actually marked up their outlook for inflation this year
Even as the economy undergoes what may be wrenching changes, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to signal it could cut its key interest rate twice this year - the same forecast it issued in December. Yet the reasons for those cuts may change dramatically, depending on how the economy fares. What were once seen as good news rate reductions in response to a steady decline in inflation back to the Fed's target of 2%, now could become bad news cuts that would be implemented to offset an economy struggling in the wake of widespread tariffs, rapid cuts in government spending, and a spike in economic uncertainty. At the end of last year, the Fed reduced its key interest rate three times to about 4.3% from 5.3%. The Fed had rapidly raised its rate to combat inflation, and as price growth headed lower, that allowed the central bank to reverse some of those rate hikes. In September, inflation dropped to a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4%. Yet inflation then marched higher for four straight .
The Fed's two-day rate-setting meeting kicks off on Tuesday, and expectations are that the central bank will keep interest rates steady
Fed officials have signaled they may be on hold for some time amid uncertainty around President Donald Trump's economic policies, particularly on trade
Wednesday night's decision by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., came in a lawsuit by 14 Democratic state attorneys general against Musk, DOGE and Republican President Donald Trump