Expect inflation prints to really start to accelerate after this month, says UBS' Evan Brown
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New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Trump says Fed's Powell is ready to start slashing interest rates
President Trump said Friday that he believes Fed Chair Jerome Powell is ready to start slashing interest rates. Trump, who for months has hammered Powell for being slow to cut rates, toured the Fed's controversial $2.5 billion building project with the embattled central banker on Thursday. 'I think we had a very good meeting on interest rates. And [Powell] said to me…very strongly, the country is doing well. He said congratulations,' Trump told reporters Friday. Advertisement 3 President Trump and Jerome Powell at a tour of the Fed's construction site. REUTERS 'I got that to mean that I think he's going to start recommending lower rates because of that conversation.' The Fed declined to comment about Trump's optimism for a rate cut. Advertisement A Fed official released a statement Friday saying the central bank was 'honored' to welcome Trump and other Republican officials. A spokesperson for the Fed said it was 'grateful' for Trump's encouragement to complete the renovation of its Washington HQ and that it 'looked forward' to seeing the project through to completion. Policymakers will hold a two-day meeting next week before deciding whether to slash the rate from its current range between 4.25% and 4.5%. Powell has said the Fed should wait for more data before adjusting rates because of concerns over the impact of Trump's tariffs on inflation Advertisement It seems more likely that the Fed will cut rates after its September meeting, with 62.3% odds, according to CME FedWatch. Trump, who called Powell a 'numbskull' earlier this week for failing to heed the White House's demand for a large reduction in borrowing costs, also said on Thursday he did not intend to fire the Fed chief, as he has frequently suggested he would. Interest rates should be lowered by as much as three percentage points, Trump has said. 3 President Trump and Jerome Powell at one point argued over the total cost of the renovations. REUTERS Advertisement Powell has argued that the economy is strong enough that it can withstand higher rates. White House budget director Russel Vought on Friday continued to blast the Fed's $2.5 billion renovation project and call for a review of the central bank. 'There's a whole host of issues with regard to the Fed, and we want to make sure that those questions get answered over time,' Vought told CNBC's 'Squawk Box.' 3 President Trump speaks with reporters on Friday. AP 'This is not a pressure campaign on the Fed chairman,' he added. Vought also said the White House still plans to follow through on what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said is the need for a review of 'the entire' Federal Reserve. Trump visited the Fed's headquarters decked-out in a hardhat for a tour of the construction site. Advertisement At one point, Trump and Powell argued over the costs of the renovation, which the president said had gone over-budget at $3.1 billion. Powell said the figure remained $2.5 billion and that Trump was including the costs of a separate, previously-completed building.
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Newsweek
Trump's FCC Head Reacts To Paramount Merger Criticism: 'Time For A Change'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Brendan Carr, reacted on Friday to widespread criticism over the terms and conditions of the $8.4 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance that the FCC approved on Thursday. "I think it's time for a change," he said when asked about the conditions and timing of the deal, which critics have described as an effort by the government to exert political influence over the press. Why It Matters Thursday's decision from the FCC capped months of uncertainty about whether the massive merger would be approved. The deal was approved after Skydance pledged that it would root out "bias" at Paramount's CBS News division, not implement new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and install an ombudsman to ensure ideological balance in CBS's news coverage. The FCC's decision also came after Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed alleging that CBS deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview that then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris did during the 2024 election. Critics have said the settlement amounted to a capitulation by the media to Trump's personal agenda, and that the timeline between that and the FCC's approval signals an unprecedented intervention by the government in the editorial operations of the independent press. Brendan Carr testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on President Biden's broadband takeover, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, November 30, 2023. Brendan Carr testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on President Biden's broadband takeover, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, November 30, 2023. Sipa via AP Images What To Know Carr appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Friday morning and was asked about criticism of the merger and its timing, including comments made by his fellow FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who dissented to the deal's approval in Thursday's 2-1 vote. Anchor David Faber quoted from Gomez's dissent, saying: "You're imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment in direct violation of the First Amendment." Faber then asked Carr to respond to his colleague's argument, to which Carr said: "I think it's time for a change." He added: "And the procedures that we put in place in this deal have lots of precedent. For instance, there have been ombudsmen put in place by the FCC before. We're putting a bias ombudsman in place here. We're addressing DEI." Carr's comments in defense of Trump were the latest example of his fealty to the president. The FCC chairman once wore a golden lapel pin of Trump's head and has opened investigations into a number of media outlets the president has criticized since he became the head of the historically independent agency. Carr continued defending the terms and conditions of the Paramount-Skydance merger during his Squawk Box interview Friday, saying the FCC is reversing the "pro-DEI commitments" that were made under the Biden administration. "We're unwinding that type of approach and we're frankly taking a trust-but-verify perspective here," he told Faber. Carr went on to claim the media has "undermined itself" and took aim at CBS's The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which the network canceled last week while citing "purely financial" reasons. Colbert's cancellation came shortly after the longtime comedian described Paramount's $16 million settlement as a "big, fat bribe" on the air, and days before the FCC greenlit the $8.4 billion Paramount-Skydance merger. "When you look at the stuff that Colbert is doing, the idea that a partisan carnival makes economic sense—these are business decisions at the end of the day," Carr told Squawk Box. What People Are Saying Gomez said in her dissent: "After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions. "In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom ... Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law." Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote on X: "BREAKING NEWS: Trump's government just approved Paramount's merger with Skydance. Sure looks like they paid Donald Trump $36 MILLION for this merger. Bribery is illegal no matter who is president." What Happens Next Despite the FCC's approval, Paramount's headaches may not be quite over as it faces sharp blowback from its own TV shows over Colbert's cancellation and its dealings with the Trump administration. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart delivered a blistering monologue on Monday, ripping his corporate bosses for settling with Trump and subsequently cancelling Colbert's show. And on Wednesday night, the iconic satirical comedy show "South Park" premiered its 27th season with an episode that made fun of the president's genitalia while comparing him to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The "South Park" episode was particularly remarkable given that it came one day after the show's creators inked a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Paramount.
CNBC
2 days ago
- CNBC
New bill in Congress would reward companies that give stock to rank-and-file employees
A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress this week would create a new tax incentive for public companies to distribute stock to their rank-and-file employees. The new SHARE Act would give a 3 percentage point discount on the corporate tax rate to large companies that distribute at least 5% of their stock to the lowest paid 80% of employees. It is cosponsored by eleven members of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, both Republicans and Democrats. "The bottom line is that right now in America, the top 10% of wealthy people in the country own 93% of the stock, and the lowest 50% people in the United States of America own 1% of the stock," said Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., a sponsor of the bill, on CNBC's Squawk Box Friday. According to Suozzi, the Share Holder Allocation for Rewards to Employees (SHARE) Plan Act, when fully implemented, could result in nearly $4 trillion in stock value being transferred to almost 40 million middle-class Americans. For the idea to work, companies would likely have to dilute, issue or buy back their shares to distribute them to employees, said Suozzi. But he argued the cost of that would be firmly offset by the 3% tax rate cut. "It's a big idea," Suozzi said. "It'll result in some initial dilution of their share price, probably, but once they get the tax rate discount, it'll result in an increase." The new bill could also incentivize employee loyalty, he added, because more workers would hold a stake in the companies that employ them. For companies with massive market caps, like Amazon or Walmart, Suozzi said they could cap the awards at $250,000 worth of stock per employee, instead of giving the full 5%, depending on which makes more sense economically for the company. The lower tax rate would be available to companies in a year where they granted at least 1% of their stock, or after they have cumulatively granted at least 5%, according to a fact sheet on the bill. The value of those distributions would be tax deductible for the companies, and the value of the stock granted to each employee would not be counted as part of that person's gross income for tax purposes. Suozzi said the bipartisan support for the bill shows how Republicans and Democrats are coming together to "stop attacking each other and start attacking the problems that we face." "We need to expand the ownership society in our country so that people who go to work every day can participate in the great success of this great country," said Suozzi.
