Kevin Warsh’s Federal Reserve Likely Holding Rates Steady—And May Hike Rates This Year

BreakingBusinessKevin Warsh’s Federal Reserve Likely Holding Rates Steady—And May Hike Rates This YearByTy Roush,Forbes Staff. Ty Roush is a breaking news reporter based in New York City.Follow AuthorJun 17, 2026, 08:49am EDTToplineThe Federal Reserve is favored to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday in Kevin Warsh’s first policymaking move as the central bank chair, as a reshaped Fed featuring former chair Jerome Powell as governor is expected to hike rates this year.Trump signaled he would allow his new Federal Reserve chair to “do what he wants to do.” Getty ImagesKey FactsTraders have priced in nearly 100% odds of the Federal Open Market Committee holding interest rates between 3.5% and 3.75%, CME Group’s FedWatch tool indicates, matching consensus analyst projections, according to FactSet.Betting markets also guarantee there will be no change: Polymarket placed 100% odds of interest rates being held, and Kalshi projected 99% odds that rates will be held between their current range.During the FOMC’s last meeting in April, a “majority” of Federal Reserve officials stressed that a rate hike may be appropriate if inflation persisted above the central bank’s 2% goal, and a majority stated there is an “increased risk” that inflation will take longer to return below that threshold than previously expected. if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe.style.display = 'none'; iframe.onload = function() { var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document; var script = iframeDoc.createElement('script'); script.src = '//cd.elements.video/player.js?cid=62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a'; script.setAttribute('defer', '1'); script.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript'); iframeDoc.body.appendChild(script); }; document.head.appendChild(iframe); const preloadResourcesEndpoint = 'https://cds.elements.video/a/preload-resources-ovp.json'; fetch(preloadResourcesEndpoint, { priority: 'low' }) .then(response =...