“When Kevin Warsh was sworn in as Federal Reserve chairman at the White House last month, he reached back to the man last sworn in at the same spot 39 years ago. Alan Greenspan was the first to ‘show me what this role demands,’ Warsh said,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“One month in, Warsh is showing what he thinks the role demands, altering the machinery his predecessors built. He announced five task forces on such matters as communications and the data the Fed relies on. Supporters say these moves will boost the Fed’s credibility. Though Warsh’s approach is often described as a return to Greenspan, it was Greenspan who built a good deal of that machinery.”

“Predicting what the Federal Reserve will do next has become an exercise in trying to game out the tactical instincts of a new chairman who isn’t giving the world much to work with,” Axios reports.

“While it’s early days in the Kevin Warsh chairmanship, his reaction function — the way he is likely to respond to incoming information about the economy — is a black box.”

“It means that a wide range of possibilities for interest rate policy this year remain in play — from multiple rate hikes starting in late July, to leaving rates steady indefinitely.”

“With inflation topping 4%, the Trump administration is easing off its long-standing calls for the Federal Reserve to immediately cut interest rates,” CNBC reports.

“That is giving new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh an extended political grace period as he deals with a challenging economic environment, but underscores the depth of the pushback he could face if the mercurial president changes his mind.”

“Rising stock prices help a very small slice of folks at the top, and the rich don’t spend much of those gains — which would at least drive overall economic growth,” Axios reports.

“The top 20% of income earners in the U.S. hold about 87% of stocks and mutual funds — that amounts to $55 trillion as of June, up from $45 trillion a year ago.”

“The bottom 80% holds about $8 trillion and has seen less of a gain in dollars — up from $7 trillion last year.”

“Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook incurred more than $1.3 million in legal and security expenses following President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her in August from the Fed’s board, a new ethics filing revealed Thursday,” CNBC reports.

“Outside organizations reimbursed Cook for those expenses, the filing shows.”

“The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on whether Trump has the power to fire Cook for the reasons he cited.”

Washington Post: “In the more than 100 days since President Donald Trump launched a war with Iran, he has offered a shifting list of reasons for why he started the conflict. But in explaining his push for peace, he named a priority much closer to home: protecting the stock market.”

Said Trump: “I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened, but all I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship.”

“The remarks provide the starkest example to date of Trump describing Wall Street as the barometer for consequential decisions of his presidency.”

“Federal Reserve officials hinted more strongly at the possibility that their next move will be to raise interest rates when they held them steady Wednesday—a notable shift at Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as chairman,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“For weeks, investors had been bracing for a Fed that would keep rates higher for longer, selling off bonds and driving up long-term yields. The decision to hold rates in the current range between 3.5% and 3.75% was unanimous.”

“President Donald Trump’s family crypto business is expected to soon be allowed to operate like a bank — a decision that would give U.S. companies a new route to steer money to the president,” NOTUS reports.

“World Liberty Financial, the stablecoin and trading platform co-founded by Trump and his three sons, applied for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, on Jan. 5.”

Politico: “It’s a milestone day at the Fed with Kevin Warsh set to host his first committee meeting as the central bank’s chair. He’ll step firmly into the spotlight tomorrow to deliver the Fed’s latest decision on monetary policy — when they’re widely expected to hold interest rates steady.”

“But as inflation numbers raise the possibility of the Fed raising rates down the line, Warsh’s words will be closely watched by many — Trump most of all.”

“When Kevin Warsh steps to the podium Wednesday for his first press conference as chair of the Federal Reserve, he will enjoy something his predecessor Jerome Powell lacked for years: breathing room from the president,” CNBC reports.

“The new Fed chair will attempt to use that freedom to make his case internally for far-reaching change at the Fed, people who know him and closely follow the Fed said. Warsh’s reform agenda includes moving the Fed slowly toward the lower rates Warsh has endorsed as well as reducing the Fed’s multi-billion-dollar balance sheet and changing how it thinks about inflation. Making that happen will require carefully marshaling the extensive but not unlimited political capital that comes with his new position.”

CNBC: “Markets head into the first Fed meeting run by new Chair Kevin Warsh with almost no idea what he thinks about the recent surge in job growth, the acceleration in inflation or the path of interest rates.”

“And that may be by design.”

“Warsh has strongly criticized Fed communications, saying they have led to policy errors and placed the Fed more at the center of market decisions and the economy than it should be. His plans for ‘regime change’ include a rethink of how the Fed forecasts and talks about its plans for monetary policy. That appears to include both quantity and frequency.”

New York Times: “SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket-building, satellite-launching and artificial intelligence company, is set to go public today at $135 a share. The company plans to sell 555 million of them. That means SpaceX would raise around $75 billion, putting its valuation at $1.77 trillion, the largest I.P.O. in history.”

“It could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Or it could tank. Some analysts have argued that SpaceX is significantly overvalued. The market could decide that Musk’s an overpromiser and pass on the stock’s high price.”

Risking little of their own money, President Trump and his sons have added at least $2.3 billion to the family fortune from their main crypto ventures, while the investors they’ve wooed have taken a $2.3 billion hit, a Reuters examination found.

Wall Street Journal: “The Justice Department has sent far-ranging subpoenas to several of America’s largest banks including JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America, requesting information about whether they ‘debanked’ clients, or improperly closed customer accounts for political reasons.”

“The subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., headed by Jeanine Pirro, escalate a campaign by President Trump to root out evidence that banks allegedly discriminated against conservatives and politically controversial industries, including his own family.”