Warsh's Opening Act: Inside the Fed's Regime Shift with James Bullard

The arrival of Kevin Warsh as Chair of the Federal Reserve marked a regime shift. At its June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) dropped its easing bias, opening the door to interest rate hikes as supply shocks collide with hotter demand. The Fed also announced five new task forces to evaluate key priorities, from inflation frameworks to AI's impact on productivity and the labor market. Under Warsh, the central bank sent an unmistakable message: This is just the opening act for a very different Fed.
James Bullard, former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and current Dean of the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University, joins PGIM's Daleep Singh to analyze the start of the Warsh era at the Fed. They discuss policy challenges from inflation's resurgence, the case for lower rates over the long run, and potential market implications if the Fed changes how it conducts monetary policy.
The conversation also covers:
The Fed's reaction function amid policy shifts and economic transformation
Emerging similarities to the Fed's Greenspan era
How changes to Fed communications and forward guidance could influence markets
Economic outcomes from the AI boom – and why fears of job destruction might be overblown