Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve, Stephen Miran, is likely to be confirmed before the central bank’s vote next week, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune teed up a vote on his nomination Thursday. That represents a big win for the White House.
Republicans are confident Miran, whom Trump tapped to finish out former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s term, can garner the support he needs after the Banking Committee advanced his nomination along party lines earlier this week.
Investors expect policymakers to cut at their meeting, but they’ll have to parse increasingly conflicting economic data in deciding how aggressively to do it; the Labor Department said Thursday price increases picked up last month despite clear signs the labor market is slowing. Those include the number of workers applying for unemployment benefits, which DOL said Thursday hit the highest level since 2021.