Major averages tumbled as treasury yields jump following the latest decision and statements from the Federal Reserve. Brian Sullivan and Kelly Evans are in Washington to digest the stock and bond market reactions to this month’s interest rate decision from the Fed. In his first press conference as Chairman, Kevin Warsh announced he will create five new task forces to overhaul the Federal Reserve’s operations. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Federal Reserve keeps rates unchanged in Kevin Warsh’s first FOMC Meeting as Chairman 6/17/26

Power Lunch

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Power Lunch

## Transcript

All right, welcome, but welcome back, everybody. We've got a huge hour ahead for the markets and your money. This is our special Fed coverage live here in Washington, D.C. I am Brian. She is Kelly. We are less than what, about five minutes away. The Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, as the new chairman's first decision on rates, let's be clear, nobody, nobody expecting a rate cut today, but all eyes are going to be on Kevin Warsh delivering that first major message on inflation, markets, and the path ahead.

Quick glance at the market so you can see the setup going into this. We have slight gains across the board. Best performer is the Dow, helped as we have been seeing. It's a third straight record for the Dow, but let's not get ahead of ourselves because we have yet to hear from the new Fed chair. Small caps leading the way up 1.3 percent.

There we go. All right. So let's turn now to our all-star panel again, just a few minutes away from the Fed decision. Joining us, David Kelly of JPMorgan Asset Management, Francis Donald of RBC Capital Markets, and Claudia Sam of New Century Advisors, both on set. David, I'll start with you there stuck at the NASDAQ in New York City. What do you expect? Not in rates, nothing's going to happen, but how do you expect Warsh to do today?

Well, I think he's going to try and bring consensus, actually, even though he says he likes a bit of a fistfight. I don't think he really does. I think you'll see a 12-0 vote in favor of what they do today, which is going to be no change. I think you start with a summary of economic projections. The summary of economic projections relative to March is going to say stronger growth. It's going to say higher inflation. It's going to say lower unemployment. I think that also means they removed the possibility of a rate cut this year, so no change in the short-term in rates. And when you do that, you also remove the easing bias implicit in the statement.

So I think all that will be done. And then Kevin Warsh will just say, look, the economy is in good shape here. It's good shape, good momentum, no reason for us to be doing anything here or even signaling anything here. I think that's going to be his message today. Francis? I think today's all about style. How does he bring consensus? How does he bring credibility to the narrative? What are the sort of breadcrumbs that we see about how his style is going to evolve?

But honorable mention, I want to hear what Kevin Warsh has to say about inflation. I agree with Claudia Sam here. Kevin Warsh and the American people have an inflation problem, and it needs to be addressed. I don't think he can get through today without talking about inflation. Claudia? I think that while he's going to want to be building consensus, there's been a lot of disagreement among committee members. There's been a lot more discussion about the possibility that a rate hike might be appropriate later this yea...

Federal Reserve keeps rates unchanged in Kevin Warsh’s first FOMC Meeting as Chairman 6/17/26

Transcript

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Federal Reserve keeps rates unchanged in Kevin Warsh’s first FOMC Meeting as Chairman 6/17/26

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.