Raphael Stevens

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday said he expects policymakers to stay on hold until they have a better handle on the impact tariffs will have on prices.
The cautious tones could further antagonize President Donald Trump, who has ramped up his long-standing criticism of Powell.
Powell will present his speech, along with the Fed’s monetary policy report, first to the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday morning, then the Senate Banking Committee a day later.

Chair of the US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, DC, on June 18, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday emphasized the central bank’s commitment to keeping inflation in check, saying he expects policymakers to stay on hold until they have a better handle on the impact tariffs will have on prices.
In remarks to be delivered to two congressional committees this week, Powell characterized economic growth as strong and the labor market to be around full employment.

However, he noted that inflation is still above the Fed’s 2% target, with the impact that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will have still unclear.
“Policy changes continue to evolve, and their effects on the economy remain uncertain,” Powell said. “The effects of tariffs will depend, among other things, on their ultimate level.”
Repeating what has become familiar language from the Fed chief, Powell said policymakers are “well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”
The cautious tones could further antagonize Trump, who has ramped up his long-standing criticism of Powell. In his latest broadside, posted early Tuesday on the president’s Truth Social platform, Trump said he hopes “Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over.”
Powell will present his comments, along with the Fed’s monetary policy report, first to the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday morning, then the Senate Banking Committee a day later.

Inflation seen drifting up

Most of the speech was boiler-plate language that Powell has used to describe the economy, which he said “remains solid,” a word he also used to characterize the labor market.
However, on inflation he said the Fed’s preferred measure is likely to move up to 2.3% in May, with the core measure excluding food and energy to edge up to 2.6%. The respective readings for April were 2.1% and 2.5%.
Tariffs historically have resulted in one-time price increases and only occasionally have been responsible for longer-term inflation pressures. Powell said he and his Federal Open Market Committee colleagues will be weighing that balance and feel in no hurry to adjust policy until they have more data to view on how tariffs are working this time around. The FOMC is the central bank’s rate-setting arm.
“The FOMC’s obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to prevent a one-time increase in the price level from becoming an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said. He added that the Fed will seek to balance its dual goals of full employment and low inflation “keeping in mind that, without price stability, we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans.”
The FOMC voted unanimously last week to hold rates steady.
However, an update to individual members’ future expectations — the “dot plot” grid — showed a split among members. Nine of the 19 officials favored either zero or one cut this year, while eight saw two cuts and two others expected three. The plot is done anonymously, so there is no way of knowing the outlook of individual members.
Over the past several days, however, two key FOMC voters, governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, said they would favor a reduction in July so long as the inflation data remains in check. The consumer price index rose just 0.1% in May, echoing other indicators showing muted prices pressures so far from tariffs.
Futures market pricing indicates only a 23% probability of a cut at the July 29-30 meeting, with a much higher probability of the next cut coming in September, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch gauge. More

Crypto firm Digital Asset raised $135 million in a funding round backed by Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities.
The company said it will use the funding to advance adoption of the Canton Network, a blockchain for financial institutions.
The investment highlights how large financial institutions are embedding themselves in the once murky world of cryptocurrencies.

Nurphoto | Getty Images

Crypto company Digital Asset said Tuesday that it’s netted $135 million in funding from a raft of major names in banking and finance.
The firm, which touts itself as a regulated crypto player, said it raised the fresh cash in a funding round co-led by DRW and Tradeweb, with Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities also investing.

The investment highlights how large financial institutions are embedding themselves in the once murky world of cryptocurrencies.
Previously associated with fraud, money laundering and other illicit activities, digital assets have become a more mainstream asset class over the years as big names like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley warmed to the space.
Just last week, JPMorgan launched its own version of a stablecoin, a deposit token called “JPMD.”

“With growing participation from global financial institutions and market participants, we expect this funding round to help us solidify our role as the backbone of digital finance,” Yuval Rooz, Digital Asset’s CEO and co-founder, told CNBC. 
Digital Asset sells a number of digital asset services to its clients, which include major Wall Street players like Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Virtu. Co-founded in 2014 by Rooz, a trader turned entrepreneur, the firm competes with the likes of Ripple, R3 and Consensys.

The firm will use the new funding to advance adoption of the Canton Network. Initially developed by Digital Asset but now open-source, Canton is a public blockchain designed for financial institutions to move assets and data around while meeting regulatory and privacy requirements.
Banks and trading firms are using Canton to tokenize real-world assets such as bonds, commodities and money market funds.
“This raise will allow us to build upon the continuing momentum around the Canton Network and accelerate the onboarding of more high-quality assets, finally making blockchain’s transformative promise an institutional-scale reality,” Rooz told CNBC.
The network now supports trillions of dollars in tokenized assets, according to Digital Asset’s CEO. More

President Donald Trump proposed a tax break on car loan interest while on the campaign trail last year.
House and Senate Republicans have pitched a $10,000 tax deduction on auto loan interest as part of the so-called “one big beautiful bill” being debated in Washington.
Households would likely need to buy luxury cars that cost $130,000 or more to get the maximum benefit, one economist said.
Models with such price tags include “exotic” brands like Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche, Land Rover, Cadillac, Maserati, Lotus or Mercedes-Benz, the economist said.

A Rolls-Royce Spectre all electric luxury coupe is displayed at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars dealership showroom in London.
John Keeble | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Republicans are trying to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to give Americans a tax break on their car loan interest. However, as structured, most households wouldn’t get a substantial financial benefit, economists said.
House and Senate Republicans proposed giving drivers a tax deduction of up to $10,000 on annual interest for new auto loans in their so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The tax break would be temporary, ending after 2028.

But few drivers pay that much annual interest, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox Automotive, an auto market research firm.
It’s “pretty rare,” he said.
Auto loans don’t have annual interest charges of $10,000 or more outside of large loans on “exotic” vehicles, Smoke said.

A ‘laundry list of exotic names’

How large would the loan have to be?
It would take a loan of roughly $112,000 to use up the full $10,000 deduction in the first year of car ownership, Smoke said.

Only about 1% of new auto loans are this big, according to Cox Automotive data.
Cars most likely to see loans of that magnitude include a “laundry list of exotic names” like Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche, Land Rover, Cadillac, Maserati, Lotus and Mercedes-Benz, Smoke said.
Smoke’s analysis assumes drivers use the most popular loan length, 72 months at the current new loan average of around 9.5%. It includes a 10% down payment and various fees like taxes and registration.
The example implies a vehicle purchase price of about $130,000, he said.
Vehicles with an average purchase price near this level include a Porsche Panamera or Cadillac Escalade, he said. Monthly car payments under those loan terms would likely be more than $2,000, Smoke said.
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House Republicans included the tax break on auto loan interest in a massive domestic policy bill, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which lawmakers narrowly passed along party lines in May. The Senate may vote on a similar measure as soon as this week.
In practice, few if any households would likely claim the full benefit due to an income limitation, experts said.
Both versions of the legislation reduce the value of the car loan interest tax deduction once an individual’s annual income exceeds $100,000, or $200,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return. Households below those thresholds may qualify for the full tax benefit, but are unlikely to buy an expensive enough car to do so, economists said.
Those drivers who might qualify to take on a six-figure car loan are unlikely to maximize the tax break, either. Taxpayers don’t get a financial benefit once income exceeds $150,000 (or $250,000 for married couples), according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank.
Qualifying cars must also receive final assembly in the U.S., according to current legislative text, potentially further limiting the potential roster of vehicles.

The average car loan and interest charges

People walk by a Ferrari dealership in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The average car loan so far in 2025 is about $43,000, according to Cox Automotive data.
Under Republicans’ tax plan, the average buyer would get a tax deduction of about $3,000 in the first year of a six-year loan (and a roughly $2,000 average annual deduction over the loan’s life), Smoke said.
However, based on the way tax deductions work, this wouldn’t mean car buyers get $3,000 in their pocket the first year.
That $3,000 would be deducted from the buyer’s taxable income.
“The math basically says you’re talking about [financial] benefit of $500 or less in year one,” and a declining value in subsequent years, Smoke said. That’s less than the average monthly payment on a new loan, he said. More