Fed chair presided over unanimous decision to raise interest rates despite intense campaign from White House

In the end, Kevin Warsh’s Federal Reserve acquitted itself well. For all the uncertainty he had sparked at the previous meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, when he refused to provide any indication of what he was prepared to do to tame stubborn inflation, the chair on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years.

“Today’s action starts to show that we’re serious about this,” he said at the press conference after the meeting, with “this” meaning inflation in excess of the Fed’s 2% target for over five years. Welcome though it was, his embrace of economic orthodoxy nonetheless did little to dispel the Keystone Cops quality of governance in Donald Trump’s US.

Defiance from the supreme court and the Federal Reserve chair in one week ... how ever will the US president cope?

“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business,” Michael Corleone tells his brother, Sonny, in The Godfather. But for Donald Trump, it’s always personal. And he leaves this week feeling betrayed.

First, the US supreme court rejected his effort to restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the midterm elections. “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “They are merely a shell of their original selves.”

Der neue Fed-Chef Kevin Warsh setzt den Leitzins herauf.  Die hohe Inflation ließ ihm kaum eine andere Wahl. Die Kritik des US-Präsidenten erfolgt prompt, Donald Trump hält niedrige Zinsen für patriotisch.

Trump urges lower rates after central bank agrees increase by quarter-percentage point to range of 3.75% to 4%

• Federal Reserve raises interest rates – live

The US Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since 2023 as the central bank continues to fight to tamp down inflation.

The Fed’s open market committee voted unanimously to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%. This is the first time the Fed has raised rates since July 2023 and potentially sets Kevin Warsh, the current Fed chair, on a collision course with Donald Trump.

Der neue Fed-Chef Kevin Warsh setzt den Leitzins herauf.  Die hohe Inflation ließ ihm kaum eine andere Wahl. Die Kritik des US-Präsidenten erfolgt prompt, Donald Trump hält niedrige Zinsen für patriotisch.

With the federal deficit near 6% of GDP and the national debt over $40tn, America’s fiscal position looks increasingly precarious

• Bessent ‘will lose’ battle with bond markets, ex-mentor warns

Are we seeing the first signs of panic in Donald Trump’s Treasury? The US is by far the world’s biggest debtor, and the steady rise in global long-term interest rates – which I have long argued was inevitable – is starting to cause real pain.

Until now, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has dismissed concerns about US debt, which recently surpassed $40tn, as a big nothingburger. Growth, in his telling, will be so spectacular the US will easily be able to meet its interest obligations without any significant tax rises or spending cuts, while the rest of the world will happily keep feeding it money. But if Bessent really believes that, why is he trying to strong-arm the bond market by fiddling with the maturity structure of government debt?

Tariffs on Canada, threats against Iran’s partners and bond market intervention show a president weaponising US power while making Americans poorer at home

Three moves in the last week have exposed the limits of Donald Trump’s economic bullying. The US slapped 50% tariffs on another $20bn of Canadian goods – then threatened the same rate on the cars, trucks, parts and steel that America Inc depends on. On Monday, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, menaced Iran’s trading partners with exclusion from the US financial network, hoping that coercion can deliver what months of war have not. And as the costs of war, tariffs and pro-billionaire tax cuts helped send US bond yields higher, the Treasury stepped in to tame long-term rates. These are not contradictory policies but a gamble: that US economic power can be repeatedly weaponised without reducing others’ willingness to depend on it.

The Trump administration’s “D-day” sanctions are potentially the most consequential because they expose the scaffolding of American financial power. While markets shrugged off the immediate threat, that calculation might change were the US to target a major Chinese refinery or bank. Such an escalation could spark a trade war with Beijing. The US has leverage. But China has pressure points – especially farmers in Republican states – that make using it costly. In the long run, there is a price to pay. Nations hold one another’s currencies partly because they trust the political relationship. Mr Trump is testing what happens when they don’t.

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm bond markets is a sign of weakness not strength

“Look, there’s nothing magic about that $40tn number,” the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC insouciantly last week, as the country’s debt mountain surpassed another bleak record.

Yet Bessent’s decision to intervene in government bond markets in an effort to combat soaring yields belied his studied calm in TV interviews – and reignited fears the US may be on the road to a debt crisis.

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as three members of monetary policy committee vote to raise rates

That German GDP reading has indeed contributed to the wider eurozone hitting expectations – and then some.

The eurozone economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the preliminary reading from Eurostat – defying the gloom caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Rates remain unchanged for fifth time since December as tenuous Iran peace deal pushes energy prices up again

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, leaving rates unchanged for the fifth time since December despite Donald Trump’s renewed calls to lower rates.

Cooler inflation data published earlier this month eased expectations for an imminent rate hike. But the tenuous peace deal between the US and Iran has made energy prices creep up again, strengthening the case for an increase. The Fed’s federal open market committee voted 9-3 to maintain rates, with three dissenting members who preferred to raise the rate by a quarter-percentage point.

The former Federal Reserve chair was a smart guy – but he had a huge blind spot. Here’s what I wish I’d said to him

Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100.

My students don’t recognize his name, but you probably do. When he was chair of the Federal Reserve – for more than 18 years, from 11 August 1987 to 31 January 2006 – he not only ran the US (and most of the world’s) economy but was also in many ways the most powerful person in the US.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK

Alan Greenspan führte 19 Jahre lang die US-Notenbank und galt als Orakel. In seiner Amtszeit sorgte er für niedrige Zinsen, die Börsen boomten, danach kam die Finanzkrise. Jetzt ist er mit 100 Jahren gestorben.

Alan Greenspan führte 19 Jahre lang die US-Notenbank und galt als Orakel. In seiner Amtszeit sorgte er für niedrige Zinsen, die Börsen boomten, danach kam die Finanzkrise. Jetzt ist er mit 100 Jahren gestorben.

Es ist die wohl wichtigste Personalie in Donald Trumps zweiter Amtszeit: Kevin Warsh hat den Vorsitz der Fed übernommen. Ein Trump-Kritiker ist er nicht.

Er ist der Wunschkandidat des US-Präsidenten: Kevin Warsh leitet nun die mächtigste Notenbank der Welt. Trump will, dass er die Zinsen senkt – doch so einfach ist das nicht.

Critical week for global economy as banks expected to issue warnings over conflict driving up prices

The world’s most powerful central banks are poised to hold borrowing costs unchanged this week amid growing concerns over the unfolding inflation shock from the Iran war.

In a critical week for the global economy, each of the central banks in the G7 are expected to issue warnings over the risks from the Middle East war driving up prices for households and businesses.

This live blog is now closed.

• Virginia voters approve new congressional maps in blow to Trump

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

Donald Trump said that he does not want to extend the two-week ceasefire with Iran, in an interview with CNBC. “I dont’ want to do that. We don’t have that much time,” the president said. The pause is set to expire tomorrow, and vice-president JD Vance will lead last-ditch talks in Islamabad today, in the hopes of striking a deal with Tehran.

However, speaking to Joe Kernen, Trump said that he plans to resume strikes if negotiations collapse. “I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” the president added. “But we’re ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go.”

Finance chiefs to join exercise in Washington designed to assess how they would handle collapse of significant bank

The bosses of the central banks and treasuries of the UK, US and EU are to take part in a war game in Washington on Saturday to test how they would handle the collapse of a globally significant bank.

Amid growing unease over the risks to global financial stability, the most senior officials from the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England – including its governor, Andrew Bailey – are expected to take part.

Fed chair Jerome Powell reportedly attends meeting in Washington following release of Claude Mythos

The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, summoned major American bank chiefs to a meeting in Washington this week amid concerns over the cyber risks posed by Anthropic’s latest AI model, according to reports.

Jerome Powell, chair of the Rederal Reserve, was said to have been among those gathered at the Treasury headquarters for the meeting after the release of the Claude Mythos AI model that Anthropic says poses unprecedented cybersecurity risks.