Watch Live: Fed Chair Powell's Last Press Conference

With Kevin Warsh having won the backing of the Senate Banking Committee on a 13-11 party-line vote to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, it's pretty much a done deal that this will be Jerome Powell's final press conference as Fed Chair.

And while The Fed took no action - as 100% expected - the question remains whether Powell will lean hawkish (oil crisis means inflation tsunami) or dovish (higher costs drag on economy and need support) despite the most dissents (3 hawkish-er, 1 dovish-er) since 1992...

“The stink of stagflation is in the air,” Senator Elizabeth Warren warned, adding that confirmation of Warsh would help Trump dominate the Fed’s monetary policy.

The combination of Warsh’s calls for a smaller balance sheet, new ways to think about inflation and communication changes put the onus on Warsh to make clear he’ll defend the Fed’s independence, said EY-Parthenon Chief Economist Gregory Daco.

“Taken together, this points to a more centralized, less transparent and potentially more politically-exposed policy framework,” he said.

But all of that is for another day as today is Powell's big finale where he will likely note both the upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to the labor market and growth.

But which way will he lean?

If Powell's final comments mirror those of Daly ( that if policy were left unchanged all year, “that would be a good restraint on inflation, but not so restrictive to hurt the labor market”), markets would read that as very hawkish.

We shall see... for now, the market is not leaning one way or another with zero rate-changes priced in until at least 2027.

Finally, Powell might get asked whether he has decided how long he will stay on at the Fed as a Governor. He will likely respond that he doesn't have anything to add to his comments from the March press conference.

Watch Fed Chair Powell's final press conference live here (due to start at 1400ET):

Tyler Durden Wed, 04/29/2026 - 14:25

Acting AG Blanche Denies Trump Directed James Comey Prosecution

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on April 29 said that President Donald Trump did not order the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file more charges against former FBI Director James Comey over a social media post that he made last year.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (L) speaks alongside FBI Director Kash Patel during a press conference about the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, at the Justice Department in Washington on April 27, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

“Of course not, absolutely, positively not,” Blanche told “CBS Mornings” when he asked whether the president directed him to pursue new charges against Comey. “This is something that has been investigated for nearly a year now, and the results of that investigation is that a grand jury returned an indictment.”

On Tuesday, a grand jury returned an indictment against Comey over an Instagram post he made in May 2025 with a photo of seashells arranged on a beach to say “86 47.” Federal prosecutors said it was a threat to assassinate Trump. Comey later deleted the post and said that he thought the sell arrangement was a political message, not a call to violence.

“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” and “I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” Comey wrote at the time.

The criminal case is the second in months against Comey. A separate and unrelated indictment against the former FBI director was dismissed in late 2025 after a court ruled that the U.S. attorney who brought the charges was appointed in an unlawful manner.

Prosecutors said in a news release Tuesday of the new charge that it was a message that a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”

Comey was charged with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. He could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

“If anybody in this country thinks—especially given what happened over the past couple of years with respect to President Trump—that it is okay for anybody to threaten the president of the United States ... and then have the media or others say, well that’s not serious, then we have a bigger problem than I even imagined in this country,” Blanche told CBS on April 29.

The acting attorney general added that “anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point,” stressing, “You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”

Comey was fired by Trump months into the president’s first term, and the two men have openly feuded ever since. Blanche, a former deputy attorney general who previously worked as Trump’s personal attorney, was elevated earlier this month to replace Pam Bondi, the first attorney general of Trump’s second term in office.

Responding to the new indictment, Comey released a video through Substack on April 28 in which he denied any wrongdoing.

“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina Beach a year ago, and this won’t be the end of it. But nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let’s go,” he said in the video.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Wed, 04/29/2026 - 14:20

Your Bank Is Becoming A Casino: River CEO Frames Bitcoin As The Alternative

Authored by Micah Zimmerman via Bitcoin Magazine,

Bitcoin 2026 speaker Alex Leishman used his Nakamoto Stage talk, titled “We’re Not Fixing Money to Build More Casinos,” to deliver a sharp warning that modern finance is drifting toward a gambling model and away from basic banking. 

Leishman, CEO of River, said the American dream feels out of reach for many people as housing costs rise, student debt lingers, and wages lag, and argued that this pressure helps explain why prediction markets and betting features are spreading through mainstream financial apps. 

In his view, a system that once promised stable savings now pushes people toward risk if they want a shot at financial freedom.

Leishman opened by describing a growing belief that “more and more people are coming to the conclusion” that they need to gamble to get ahead. He said finance and entertainment have merged on the phone screen, with products that look like investing tools but function like casinos. 

He pointed to platforms that promote constant trading and outcome bets, and said this environment tells users that the safe path of saving no longer works, only high‑risk wagers do. The result, he argued, is a landscape in which households face a choice between stagnation and speculative bets framed as empowerment.

Leishman contrasted today’s market with an earlier era in which a bank was a place that kept money safe. Banking and gambling were separate activities, he said, governed by different norms and expectations. Prediction markets, he argued, have given financial institutions a rationale to fold sports betting and event wagers into apps that once focused on savings and investing. 

That change, he said, blurs lines for users who open a finance app and find a casino.

Gambling is correlated with stress, debt distress

Leishman linked this trend to research that shows gambling correlates with higher levels of debt distress and personal bankruptcy. He said gambling “isn’t good for society” and argued that the rapid spread of online betting should concern policymakers and industry leaders. 

In the past, a person had to walk into a casino to place a bet; now, he said, anyone with a phone can gamble from the couch or the checkout line. The distance between everyday life and high‑risk wagering has collapsed into a few taps on an app, with push notifications and promotions designed to keep people engaged.

He accused parts of the crypto and fintech sector of not being honest about this direction. The industry “shouldn’t lie” about what it is building, he said, because many products marketed as tools for financial freedom depend on user losses and trading churn. 

He described two futures: one in which traditional banks continue to grow rich off customer deposits while providing little yield or transparency, and another in which fintech firms double down on prediction markets and sports betting as core revenue lines. In both cases, he argued, ordinary customers lose: they either watch their savings erode in low‑yield accounts or face rising odds of financial harm on betting‑style platforms.

Bitcoin banks can grow your money without gambling

As an alternative, Leishman framed bitcoin banking as a third path. He said bitcoin banks can allow wealth generation without gambling by pairing sound money with interest on cash and bitcoin balances.

“50 countries in the last 5 years have increased their regulatory friendliness to Bitcoin,” Leishman said.

In that model, clients can succeed through saving and prudent risk, not through repeated wagers on short‑term events. He pointed to growing institutional and sovereign interest in holding bitcoin as a sign that the asset is maturing into a reserve instrument. 

From his perspective, banks that integrate bitcoin in a conservative, savings‑focused way can oppose both the low‑yield status quo and the casino trend in fintech.

Leishman closed with a prediction that “all institutions will want to become bitcoin banks” as the asset gains broader acceptance. He argued that banks and fintech firms that align with bitcoin, proof‑of‑reserves, and straightforward savings products will stand apart from casino‑like competitors that depend on user losses. 

In his telling, the real promise of a “financial revolution” is not more ways to gamble from a phone, but a system in which money holds its value, deposits are verifiable, and people can pursue financial freedom without turning their lives into a series of bets.

Tyler Durden Wed, 04/29/2026 - 13:50