Kai Risdahl

Lest you think it is all fun and games, though, there was substance today.

Not of the interest rate variety so much, no change there.

But of the, first of all, personnel variety, just to make sure we don't bury the lead here, Powell said right at the top of the press conference today he is going to stay on at the Fed after his term as chair is done on May the 15th.

His term on the Board of Governors doesn't expire until January of 2028.

He did not say, Mr. Powell didn't, how long he is going to stay.

So there is that.

Also, and this is a teeny bit inside baseball, so bear with me, but the vote to hold rates steady was eight to four with some dissent.

That is the technical term over what message the Fed is sending.

We had quite a vigorous discussion about that, that very issue and the guidance.

And is it still appropriate?

And that kind of thing.

Is it still appropriate, that is, to send the message that an interest rate cut might still be in the mix?

It's a good question, right?

You see, inflation has moved up over the interim a bit.

Core inflation is 3.2 now, moving, albeit just a little bit, in the wrong direction.

And we know that there will be, you know, that there's headline inflation coming out of the Gulf, and we don't know how much that will be.

We just, we're going to need to see.

One might even say he wants more data.

There's so much uncertainty about the path ahead.

There doesn't need to be any rush to make that decision now because, you know, what happens in the next 30, 60 days, even by the next meeting, could really change the picture around that language.