Mint Quick Edit | The US Fed’s rate call this week: White House whim is unlikely to play a role

Inflation is still above the Fed’s 2% target and could rise more as the economy gains momentum on the back of past cuts.

The Fed’s last rate call, a cut, was clouded by economic data gaps in the wake of a government shutdown.

Data for recent months that’s now available shows an economy that hasn’t changed much since then.

This time, a rate cut seems unlikely, with some expecting the status quo to last till around mid-year.

Meanwhile, what shape US monetary policy formulation takes once Fed chair Jerome Powell exits that role in May is a matter of feverish speculation.

Trump is expected to announce a new chief this week.

If global markets detect an end to the Fed’s independence, as Harvard professor Gita Gopinath recently pointed out, it could spell a turning point for the dollar’s supremacy in the world’s financial affairs.

As a fiat currency, its credibility relies on that of the Fed’s.

A loss of it could eventually deprive the US of its cheap-credit privilege.