30 January 2026
If you are covering the confirmation that Donald Trump will nominate Kevin Warsh as Chair of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, please find below a comment from Stuart Clark, portfolio manager at Quilter:
“Investors will be breathing somewhat of a sigh of relief as Donald Trump confirmed he was nominating Kevin Warsh to Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. This removes an unknown we had leading up to the end of current Chair Jerome Powell’s term, and is certainly a lot more moderate of a pick than it could have been.
“Warsh was in contention for the job back in 2017 and as such comes to the role with a level of authority that is respected across the market. He has historically been on the hawkish side of monetary policy, and while he will naturally look to stay on Trump’s good side, this should help temper any expectation that the Fed will begin indiscriminately lowering interest rates when he takes the job. Concerns around Fed independence and an erosion on this should now be tempered, although Warsh’s words and actions will be scrutinised by market participants intensely. This appointment is also likely to calm markets, which had of late started to get more volatile. We have already seen the dollar recoup recent losses and the tear in the gold price end on the speculation of this news, and as always markets respond well to certainty.
“What Jerome Powell does next will be interesting to watch. He has the right to remain on the board and help set the monetary policy direction of the Fed, but whether he continues to have the stomach for it remains to be seen. The looming Supreme Court decision on whether Trump can remove board members will be critical. As ever in the world of a Trump presidency, things are never quiet and thus investors will need to keep on their toes.”
