The David Lin Report · Saturday, August 8, 2026
Ed Yardeni suggests that Fed Chair Powell's credibility may be questioned for not raising rates in July after signaling a hawkish stance. He believes Powell might be hoping external factors like lower oil prices will help control inflation, but doubts this will be sufficient, especially with upcoming midterm elections potentially influencing the Fed's decisions.
“I think the initial reaction to what Wash said and didn't do, which was to raise the Fed funds rate, was, uh, a, uh, basically a sign from the bond market that he'd failed, that, uh, he probably should have raised rates because, you know, in April, before he was Fed chair, the Fed was in easy mode.”
“So now everybody's kind of expecting that it'll happen in September. But the problem for him is he's getting kind of close to the midterm elections and the President, President Trump's not gonna be too happy, uh, if the Fed raises interest rates, uh, between now and the midterm elections.”