It’s kinda chic to be roaming around Jackson Hole, Wyoming right now — especially if you’re a Fed watcher.
And while Kevin Warsh makes his debut speech Aug. 28 as Fed Chairman at the annual economic summit sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the anticipation appears to be more on what he won’t say and less on what he will say.
“Warsh does not control fiscal policy. But markets need to understand what he thinks his responsibility is when fiscal policy starts moving the price of money,’’ Bill Birmingham, Managing Director at REX Financial, told TheStreet in an email.
Markets are expecting a Fed rate hike by December and are somewhat content with Warsh’s ditching of forward guidance since taking over the chair role in May.
But recently long-term Treasury yields have surged, naturally tightening financial conditions without explicit Fed action.
However, internal Fed debate persists and recent Treasury bond buybacks intended for liquidity management have counteractively lowered yields.
Plus, fiscal deficits projected to hit $1.9 trillion this year heighten the risk of fiscal dominance while monetary policy is increasingly constrained by the $40 trillion government debt and its financing needs.
“This may be the most interesting issue at Jackson Hole because it sits at the intersection of monetary policy, fiscal policy and market credibility,’’ Birmingham said. “That means mortgage rates, corporate borrowing rates and financing costs for AI infrastructure can tighten without Warsh moving the overnight rate at all.”
How Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech could impact bond market
The Fed’s dual mandate from Congress requires maximum employment and stable prices.
- Lower interest rates support hiring but can fuel inflation. This risks fueling further inflation, potentially leading to an inflationary spiral.
- Higher rates cool prices but can weaken the job market. This increases the cost of borrowing and further stifles economic activity.
The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously last month to hold its benchmark Federal Funds Rate target in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
Policymakers had cut rates by 25 basis points at its last three meetings of 2025 to shore up the softening labor market.
These “insurance” cuts stopped after the majority of policymakers decided the risk from higher prices was outweighing signs that the jobs market was stabilizing.
The funds rate is the interest rate at which banks lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other banks overnight.
A change in the funds rate triggers moves in short-term borrowing costs ranging from credit cards to student loans and home equity loans.
Warsh’s speech could put bond market ‘at risk’
Melissa Brown, Global Head of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, told TheStreet in an email that investors are clearly betting that the Fed will hike rates by year-end, with a small likelihood the increase would be as high as 75 basis points.
“Not long ago, higher long-term rates seemed to be solely tied to higher inflation expectations, but more recently concerns about servicing the level of U.S. debt have joined inflation concerns. In addition, while equity investors seem to like when oil prices drop, volatility in that commodity can’t be helping the uncertainty around inflation,’’ Brown said.
Related: Bessent’s $40 trillion debt answer puts Fed rate hike in focus
Oil volatility may also hurt economic growth, as companies have a harder time planning, investors pull back on other purchases so there is not necessarily an obvious choice between unemployment and inflation, she said.
“I would look to see if Warsh will use this as an opportunity to provide a little more guidance. He has implied in the past that inflation is the more potent current threat, and with rates rising, it seems hard to imagine he would ignore or gloss over the topic. He does so at the risk of injecting even more volatility into financial markets,’’ Brown said.
One Fed official wants immediate action on inflation
Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack told CNBC Aug. 27 that the central bank needs to act now to bring down inflation. Even with recent data indicating a slowing pace of price increases, Hammack, one of three dissenters at the July Fed meeting who favored a rate hike, said she worries about affordability and the impact inflation is having on household budgets.
Inflation has not hit the Fed’s own 2% target in over five years.
“The longer inflation stays above our objective, the harder it will be for us to bring it back down, and the more pain that individuals and businesses are going to be experiencing,” she said. “To me, the real problem with us missing on our inflation objective for so long is the risk that an inflationary mindset starts to set in with the public.”
According to the CME Group FedWatch Tool, financial markets are currently pricing in the following probabilities regarding a 25-basis-point hike across the remaining 2026 FOMC meetings:
- September: Roughly 30%-35%.
- October: ~50%.
- December: Roughly 70%-75%.
Related: Stock market hits records as Fed removes key safety net
