Kevin Warsh will be the first Fed chair sworn in at the White House in almost 40 years

By Greg Robb

Trump to host ceremony for his Fed pick on Friday

Kevin Warsh, the incoming Federal Reserve chair, did not win the support of many Senate Democrats.

President Donald Trump will host a swearing-in ceremony for incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the White House on Friday, a White House official said.

This is the first time a Fed chair has been sworn in at the White House since Alan Greenspan in 1987.

The ceremony at the White House comes as Trump's goal of markedly lower interest rates seems to be slipping away.

The Iran conflict is at a stalemate, pushing up oil prices (CL.1) and stressing supply chains. At the same time, the labor market has been steady. As a result, economists have been pushing back any expectations of Fed rate cuts until next year.

"Warsh inherits a committee with little appetite to cut," said Antonio Gabriel, global economist at Bank of America Securities, in a note to clients. Economists are now debating whether the Fed's next move will be a rate cut or a rate hike.

Read: 5 tests Warsh will face on his first day

Fed watchers will be listening closely Friday to see how Trump responds to a Fed that appears to be in no hurry to adjust rates.

Jonathan Pingle, chief U.S. economist at UBS, noted that Warsh steps into a difficult environment for guiding policy. Over the past 30 years, Fed chairs have been able to count on support from eight "core" votes on the Fed's 12-member interest-rate committee. The core consists of Fed governors and New York Fed President John Williams, who always has a vote on interest rates.

In the nearly 30 years until September 2024, there were only two dissents by governors. Since then, in less than two years, there have been 11 dissents.

"That's a big break from the past," Pingle said, in a note to clients.

Last week, the Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair. The vote was more partisan than for prior Fed chairs. Only Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat, joined Republicans on separate votes to confirm Warsh as a Fed governor and as chair. Democrats are skeptical that Warsh can be independent of the president, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Democrat from Massachusetts, calling him a "sock puppet" for the president.

Robert Schroeder contributed

-Greg Robb

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05-18-26 1516ET