White House Says Biden Has 'Confidence' in Fed Chair Powell While Fedwatch Tool Predicts a 25bps Hike This Week
With the Federal Open Market Committee convening on Wednesday and the recent financial troubles facing the U.S. banking system, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has “confidence” in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Meanwhile, according to the CME Group’s Fedwatch tool, the target rate probability suggests the Fed will raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points (bps) this week. There’s also a 26.9% chance the U.S. central bank won’t raise the rate this month. Market Laser-Focused on Upcoming Fed Meeting; Biden Administration Confident in Powell’s Leadership It has been a tumultuous week in the U.S. banking industry as three major banks collapsed, and the Federal Reserve announced that it would fully bail out two of them. Additionally, the U.S. central bank created the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) to assist failed banks and their depositors. Moreover, the Fed loaned the banks $164.8 billion to strengt...