Key Points
-
On May 22, Kevin Warsh became only the 17th head of the central bank since its founding in December 1913.
-
President Donald Trump’s handpicked successor to Jerome Powell has vowed to lead a reform-oriented Fed, which includes doing away with forward-looking guidance.
-
However, a statement by Warsh at the ECB Forum on Central Banking provides clarity on inflation and interest rates.
- 10 stocks we like better than S&P 500 Index ›
This has been a year of history-making moments for Wall Street. We’ve watched the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) vault to record highs, witnessed the largest initial public offering in history, and saw an ultra-rare changing of the guard at the Federal Reserve.
On May 22, President Trump’s handpicked successor to Jerome Powell, Kevin Warsh, was officially sworn in as Fed chair. He’s only the 17th head of the central bank since its founding in December 1913.
But Warsh’s ascent comes at a particularly challenging time for the U.S. economy and Wall Street. Trumpflation (i.e., Trump-driven inflation) pushed the inflation rate to a three-year high of 4.2% in May and has left the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the 12-person body, including Fed Chair Warsh, responsible for setting the nation’s monetary policy — at a crossroads.
Kevin Warsh is heading a reform-oriented Fed
During his swearing-in ceremony at the White House, Warsh made clear that he would reform America’s foremost financial institution.
For starters, he’s been hypercritical of the central bank’s bloated balance sheet, primarily consisting of long-term U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Between August 2008 and March 2022, the Fed’s balance sheet grew tenfold to nearly $9 trillion.
Kevin Warsh Nomination: one reason why market players are interpreting it as a hawkish pick- I agree-is because of his views on the need for a radical balance sheet reduction.
The $31 trillion-dollar American economy demands liquidity & financing needs that are larger than what… pic.twitter.com/zYunGAItV8
— Joseph Brusuelas (@joebrusuelas) January 30, 2026
Warsh has also spoken about changing how the FOMC looks at inflation. While testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on April 21, he proclaimed that, “price stability should be a change in prices such that no one’s talking about it.” Modernizing the data policymakers consider when making decisions and altering how the FOMC views inflation can give the Fed more monetary policy flexibility.
But at the forefront of Warsh’s changes is the desire to eliminate forward-looking guidance. The new head of the Fed wants to present only the facts and let equity markets decide what that entails. The FOMC’s June 17 statement abandoned previous language that helped investors determine whether policymakers were likely to ease or hike interest rates.
Powell’s successor just offered a massive clue about interest rates
Through seven weeks on the job, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has avoided offering forward-looking guidance. However, at the ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal, on July 1, Warsh inadvertently spilled the beans on what’s likely coming regarding interest rates.
When questioned about inflation on the ECB Forum panel by CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Warsh replied:
If there were people in household or the business sector, in the financial markets, who thought that this central bank was going to be comfortable with an inflation objective above 2%, well, I guess they’d be disappointed. We’re going to deliver price stability in the U.S.
This statement, made by a historic monetary hawk, paints a pretty clear picture that he and the 11 other FOMC members are strongly leaning toward raising the federal funds target rate in the not-too-distant future.
BREAKING: US May PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred inflation metric, rises to 4.1%, the highest reading since April 2023.
Core PCE inflation rose to 3.4%, its highest since October 2023.
US inflation is now officially running at more than double the Fed’s 2% target.
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) June 25, 2026
To add, even though crude oil prices have fallen and broader inflation is projected to decline in July, Core Personal Consumption Expenditures, which exclude volatile food and energy expenses, should head higher. This implies that Trumpflation has entered a new stage, and the effects of Iran-war-driven inflation are impacting the broader economy (i.e., beyond the energy sector).
Wall Street doesn’t need forward-looking guidance from Kevin Warsh if he continues to make blunt/direct statements about inflation, as he did at the ECB Forum.
Should you buy stock in S&P 500 Index right now?
Before you buy stock in S&P 500 Index, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and S&P 500 Index wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $410,833!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,208,693!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 917% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 209% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
