The Federal Reserve is steering through a thicket of macro crosscurrents, and the challenge is sharpening amid a new report that President Trump has been calling Chair Kevin Warsh since he took the helm at the

Trump's Calls To Warsh Add Political Crosscurrent To Fed's Path

Summary

• The Fed's challenge is sharpening amid a new report that President Trump has been calling Chair Kevin Warsh since he took the helm at the central bank in May.
• That backdrop may sharpen the bond market’s sensitivity to any hint of political pressure on the central bank, especially given Trump’s history of urging Warsh’s predecessor to cut rates.
• How or if the bond market reacts to this reporting, and whether it’s a sign that Warsh will face rate-cutting pressure, will hinge on traders’ read of the political backdrop.

James Picerno is the director of analytics at The Milwaukee Co., a wealth manager that is the adviser to The Brinsmere Funds, a pair of global asset allocation ETFs. He also edits CapitalSpectator.com and The US Business Cycle Research Report (CapitalSpectator.com/premium-research). He is the author of three books, including "Quantitative Investment Portfolio Analytics In R: An Introduction To R For Modeling Portfolio Risk and Return." Previously he was a financial journalist at Bloomberg and before that at Dow Jones.