Fed leaves interest rates unchanged in defiance of Trump’s calls for cuts

The US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged after its latest board meeting, defying once again Donald Trump’s call for a cut as the central bank prepares for a leadership shake-up next month. On Wednesday, Fed officials continued to cite elevated inflation, slow job growth and uncertainty in the Middle East as reasons why rates were left untouched. “Jobs gains have remained low, on average, and the unemployment rate has been little changed in recent months. Inflation is elevated, in part reflecting the recent increase in global energy prices,” the board said in a statement. While only one of the board’s 12 voting members voted against leaving the rate unchanged, the Fed board also signaled growing dissent within its ranks: three members supported maintaining the current rate, but did not agree with the Fed suggesting it will lower rates later this year. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, briefly hit $119 a barrel on Wednesday, a monthly high and a 7% jump over the course of a day as uncertainty around the war in Iran looms. The Fed’s meeting ended hours after the US Senate banking committee confirmed the former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, clearing a procedural path for the whole Senate to confirm him as new chair of the central bank. Warsh is expected to be more amenable to Trump’s calls for a rate cut than the current chair, Jerome Powell, who has been the target of hostile attacks toward himself and the central bank over its rates agenda. …