Powell showed he’s still ‘firmly in control’ after White House adviser Miran’s first FOMC meeting, former Fed official says

Jerome Powell’s first meeting with Stephen Miran produced an unexpectedly broad majority to lower rates by a quarter point, a sign of the Fed chairman’s ability to build a consensus.

Before Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, some on Wall Street saw deeper division, with Miran representing a potential third dissenting vote for a half-point cut.

But instead, governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman went with their fellow policymakers, after dissenting at the prior meeting, leaving Miran as the outlier in the 11-1 vote.

In a Bloomberg column on Thursday , former New York Fed President Bill Dudley said “Powell is firmly in control” of the FOMC. He added that central bankers who were inclined to keep rates steady deferred to the Fed chair and agreed to cut.