Overview
- The Federal Reserve said it received grand‑jury subpoenas tied to Chair Jerome Powell’s June Senate testimony and a roughly $2.5 billion headquarters renovation, with no criminal charges announced.
- Powell called the subpoenas a pretext to influence interest‑rate policy preferred by President Trump, who denied knowledge of any probe and criticized Powell’s performance.
- Former Fed chairs Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Janet Yellen issued a joint rebuke of the investigation as an unprecedented attack on central‑bank independence, joined by bipartisan critics including Sens. Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski and Chuck Schumer.
- Markets swung as the dollar, Treasuries and U.S. equity futures fell in early Asian trading while gold and silver jumped to record levels in some reports, even as one account noted U.S. stocks later closed at record highs.
- Analysts warned that perceived political interference could raise volatility, pressure the dollar, drive safe‑haven flows and complicate the Fed’s rate path as Powell’s chair term nears its May 2026 end.