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Federal Reserve Abandons Easing Bias as Kevin Warsh Era Begins and Iran War Stokes Inflation

6/21/2026

The Federal Reserve has dropped its bias toward lower interest rates as Kevin Warsh takes charge of the central bank, a shift forced by inflation that has climbed to nearly double the Fed's target.

The proximate cause, in the Fed's own framing, is Donald Trump's war in Iran — a conflict whose commodity disruptions have made the conditions for easing politically and economically untenable.

A New Chair, A Different Posture The Warsh era opens not with inherited momentum toward accommodation but with a policy stance reset.

Abandoning a bias toward cuts is a meaningful signal: it tells markets and trading desks that the next move is no longer presumed to be down, and that the Fed is recalibrating its reaction function under new leadership.

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