Monetary policy

The Federal Reserve governor's term was set to expire in January and President Donald Trump has made it clear that she would not be reappointed. The vacancy will give Trump an opportunity to appoint someone new to the central bank's board.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during his regular press conference Wednesday that the process of determining tariff-related price increases was always going to be slow, but it has taken longer than he expected.

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee is expected to leave interest rates unchanged again Wednesday amid reports of renewed economic growth in the second quarter and despite ramped up pressure from the White House to cut rates.

President Trump and Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., visited the Federal Reserve Board headquarters Thursday afternoon to inspect ongoing renovations whose cost overruns have heightened scrutiny of Fed chair Jerome Powell.

Monetary policymakers have held off on lower interest rates for months, citing the risk of tariff-induced inflation. Several now say this week's CPI and PPI reports confirmed their suspicions.

Lorie Logan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech Wednesday that she is content to leave interest rates where they are, adding that she would want to see inflation fall to 2% before considering cuts.

President Trump and his lieutenants have been bullying Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for months over the Fed's reluctance to lower interest rates. But even if that campaign is successful, the president may not really get what he wants.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the consumer price index rose to 0.3% in June to an annualized rate of 2.7%, making the case to cut interest rates more difficult for the Federal Reserve to justify at its next meeting later this month.

Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said that criticisms of the Fed's balance sheet and calls to return to a scarce reserves system are misinformed, saying that much of the central bank's balance sheet is the result of activities outside the Fed's control.

The labor market was a bigger point of discussion in the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy-setting meeting, but officials were divided about the path of future actions.