Bloomberg Surveillance · Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Bob Michael, CIO and Head of Global Fixed Income at JP Morgan Investment Management, suggests that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell may be forced to raise interest rates sooner than anticipated. Michael believes Powell's strategy of establishing task forces indicates a desire to ease into 2027 without significant policy changes, but market and economic shifts could necessitate action by the September meeting.
“We think his hand will be for sooner than he likes it. Clearly, by having the task force come back at year end, he wants to glide into twenty twenty seven without having to do much. But the markets move, the economy moves. The summers tend to be a crucible of intensity, so we think by the September meeting he's going to have a plan.”
“Well, it depends who's leading them and who's on them. I think they'll come back with very thoughtful ideas. In the end, you don't set up task forces unless you already know the answer. So he knows the answer. It's just a matter of seeing if he can pin it on the task force or just go ahead and say do it this way, runs it folks.”