Will he stay or will he go? With criminal probe over, Fed Chair Powell faces big decision

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 18, 2026. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is likely in his final weeks at the central bank helm and now faces a choice, following a Justice Department decision Friday, of whether he stays on at the institution. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced in a social media post that she was referring a criminal probe into renovations at Fed headquarters to the central bank's inspector general, effectively removing the Justice Department from the investigation for now. While a significant move on its face, it's even more important as Powell has vowed to stay on until the criminal probe is resolved. Now that a decision has been made he faces a choice: Does he follow historic precedent and walk away from the Fed, as most other prior chairs have done, or stay on for the final two years of his term as governor? The decision could have important ramifications for policymaking at an especially delicate time. "Powell has kept his cards close to his chest. If the investigation had never taken place we think he would have left the Fed completely on May 15," Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, said in a note. …