The battle between the White House and the Federal Reserve is heating up, and some guy named Humphrey is to blame. For months now, President Trump has made his displeasure with Fed Chair Jerome Powell well-known. His motives are obvious: The president wants the Fed to cut interest rates and give the economy a boost to help keep tariffs from dragging it into a downturn. But Powell explained yesterday that the Fed is in wait-and-see mode, also for obvious reasons: Nobody knows exactly what tariffs will do to the US economy, and cutting interest rates now could exacerbate problems down the line. Better to keep that arrow in the Fed’s quiver for a while longer than to spend it too soon. The president didn’t like that one bit. Taking to Truth Social last night, Trump criticized Powell’s cautious stance, gave the Fed chair a new nickname—”‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG”—and ominously noted that, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” But seriously, who is Humphrey? Tough talk is one thing, but actions speak louder than words—and a case that landed on the Supreme Court’s docket this week may give the president the power over Powell that he craves. Humphrey’s Executor is a little-known ruling from 1935 that has big implications for how US monetary policy works. It prevents the president from firing federal agency officials for political reasons, protecting appointees like Powell from Trump’s wrath until his tenure as Fed chair is complete in May 2026. But Trump’s dismissal of Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board earlier this year has challenged that precedent. If the Supreme Court rules in the White House’s favor, it will bring the Fed—and various other formerly independent agencies—under Trump’s thumb. Why this matters: Much has been made of international investors turning away from US assets, hurting both bonds and equities. While US assets were once considered completely secure, the theory is that investors are seeking safety elsewhere while policy mayhem and tariff turmoil work their way through US markets. If a president who has the power to shift the global economy with a single Truth Social post gains control of the Fed—which is considered to be the last bastion of financial independence outside of Trump’s grasp—then that could only exacerbate investor worries. Plus, Powell made it clear yesterday that investors can no longer rely on the once-vaunted “Fed Put” to save the day. The central bank has no immediate plans to cut interest rates and bolster markets the way it once did, and investors currently peg the chances of rates staying right where they are after the Fed’s next meeting at over 86%. One more problem: It didn’t help that the European Central Bank decided to cut interest rates for the seventh meeting in a row today, placing its monetary policy in stark contrast to the Federal Reserve’s conservative approach. But ECB head Christine Lagarde did voice her support for Powell in a press conference following the meeting. It’s nice to see that somebody is still in Powell’s corner.—MR | 
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