The US Senate is expected to confirm Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve this week, ending Jerome Powell's term atop the central bank as President 
Trump continues his push to influence the world's most important central bank. The vote is expected to split along party lines, the Guardian reported, with Democrats criticising Warsh as Trump's "sock puppet" at a time when the president has pushed past the typical boundaries between the White House and the nonpartisan Fed.
Powell, in remarks ahead of the handover, said the institution had been "battered" over the past year, the Guardian reported. "We're having to resort to the courts to enforce our … ability to make monetary policy without political considerations," Powell said. "I'd like to think we can get out of that era and go back to respecting what the law says and what custom has been." Powell said at his 29 April press conference that he expected to continue serving as a governor for a period after the chair term while keeping a low public profile, CryptoSlate reported.
Warsh inherits the post during a dense week of US economic data. Consumer price and producer price prints, retail sales, and the Fed's H.4.1 reserves report all land between May 11 and 15, alongside the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, CryptoSlate reported. The new chair could face his first inflation signal before his reaction function is publicly visible. If CPI or PPI accelerates, Warsh begins boxed in by data; if inflation cools, he begins with room to define how quickly the Fed can pivot without inviting a bond-market credibility premium, CryptoSlate reported. Warsh's nomination has been framed around institutional change at the central bank, including questions about models, communications, bond holdings and the Fed's reaction function.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
