WASHINGTON ¨C Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh opened a new era of U.S. monetary policy on Wednesday, with officials agreeing to leave interest rates unchanged despite inflation stuck well above their target but also launching an ambitious review that could reshape how the central bank makes decisions and communicates with the public.
Warsh, who took over as Fed chief last month, made an immediate imprint in organizing a unanimous consensus around a stripped-down policy statement that jettisoned any forward guidance on what actions the central bank might take in the near term, although new quarterly projections, eschewed by Warsh himself, showed nine of 19 policymakers now anticipate a rate hike by the end of 2026.
Indeed, the shortened ?document issued by the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee heralded a return to a format similar to that used by former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and clearly reflected Warsh¡¯s disdain for expansive communication about what¡¯s to come, and ?desire to ?let financial markets act with less input from the central bank.
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