Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as the Federal Reserve's tenth chair in eight decades, and Wall Street is greeting him with a rally — a historically typical response, even if his two immediate predecessors triggered sharp selloffs on day one. The honeymoon, however, may be short-lived. Warsh inherits a market already testing his resolve, with oil pushing past one hundred dollars and inflation still sticky enough to force an early policy call between defending the expansion or crushing demand to restore price stability.
That tension is already playing out in the rates market, where Fed Governor Christopher Waller struck a notably hawkish tone, saying he would support a rate increase if inflation fails to slow in the near term. The dollar index responded, climbing to just below a six-week high, while gold retreated as traders repriced the path of easing. It is a reminder that even with a new chair at the helm, the committee speaks with its own voice.
Meanwhile, quantum computing stocks are extending their run after the Department of Commerce announced two billion dollars in grants to companies in the sector. Government capital at that scale signals a serious industrial policy commitment, and the market is treating it as a durable tailwind rather than a one-day catalyst.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
