Trump met Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell for the first time this administration, following month of publicly pressuring him to slash interest rates.

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers could still cut interest rates twice this year as they projected in March, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said on Thursday, but for now rates should remain steady to make sure inflation is on track to reach the central bank's 2% goal.

Officials at the Federal Reserve have adopted a wait-and-see approach to policy moves amid extreme uncertainty about the economic outlook.

Economist Brian Wesbury argues that the Federal Reserve's massive balance sheet expansion during Covid has not just distorted global financial markets but enabled an increasingly unaccountable and bloated federal bureaucracy.