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✏️ If President Trump can't fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates, some of his advisers are hoping they've found the next best thing: zeroing in on ballooning costs in the central bank's headquarters renovation to undercut perceptions of Powell's performance. Markets, meanwhile, see the prospect of higher inflation if a new Fed regime caves to Trump's pressure and cuts interest rates. And now that diamonds can be made in a lab, are they even a luxury anymore? Diamond giant De Beers is out to convince a skeptical world that its natural stones are worth the price. | |
Emma Tucker
Editor in Chief, The Wall Street Journal | |
- The captain of the doomed Air India flight appeared to switch off fuel flow, a black-box recording indicates, remaining calm while the first officer panicked.
- The Senate passed a White House-endorsed plan to cancel $9 billion in federal funding for foreign-aid programs and public media.
- National-security concerns are holding up Trump's deal for the U.A.E. to buy Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial-intelligence chips.
- China is threatening to block a deal that would transfer ownership of dozens of seaports to Western investors unless its shipping giant Cosco gets a stake.
- Nationalist vigilante groups are increasingly taking control of Russia's streets as police leave for higher salaries fighting in the Ukraine war.
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| What history tells us about the perils of firing Powell. | |
The Fed has enjoyed considerable operational autonomy since the 1951 Treasury-Fed accord gave it a freer hand to set interest rates, though it hasn't been immune to political pressure. Politicians usually want lower rates, mindful of consumer and business borrowing costs, while central bankers need to promote stable prices. Jack Pitcher and Matt Wirz examine past examples of tension between heads of government and their central bankers for clues about how the Trump-Powell showdown could play out. | |
| De Beers is reckoning with a price plunge. | |
London-based De Beers almost single-handedly persuaded generations of consumers that love wasn't genuine unless it was sealed with a diamond—the kind that was formed over a billion years deep in the earth. Now diamonds can be made in labs that mimic the earth's extreme pressure and temperatures, but for a fraction of the price. That has set De Beers on a mission to sell a new generation of shoppers on the virtues of natural diamonds, Jenny Strasburg and Suzanne Kapner report. | |
Go inside the U.S.-China relationship. | Sign up for the WSJ China newsletter to get exclusive insights on the contest between the U.S. and China, brought to you every week by the WSJ's top China correspondent. | | |
CONTENT FROM: Deloitte | | | | | The U.S. depends on foreign suppliers for 100% of 12 critical minerals and more than 50% of 29 others, threatening economic security. President Donald Trump's National Energy Dominance Council proposes a three-part action plan: boost domestic mining, strengthen international partnerships and improve market transparency to reduce import reliance and enhance supply chain resilience. Read More | ![]() | | |
| Q: What's behind Trump's effort to oust the Fed chair? | |
Few people noticed when a former Fed economist published a report earlier this year about ballooning costs in the central bank's $2.5 billion headquarters renovation. Months later, that obscure budget critique has become the centerpiece of Trump's campaign to pressure Powell—and possibly attempt to remove him from office, Nick Timiraos and Brian Schwartz report. | |
A: The White House is seizing on cost overruns and marble construction not because they have any legal authority over the Fed's buildings or budgets. Instead, administration officials are hoping to erode the public trust that undergirds Powell's authority, build a legal case to force him out, or both. The laws creating the Fed say policymakers can be removed only "for cause," which has been interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty. Legal experts doubt the administration has grounds for a court-sanctioned removal, suggesting the real strategy may be to inflict enough political damage that Powell either resigns or becomes more accommodating on interest rates. The real battle isn't in the courts. A recent Supreme Court order went out of its way to suggest its assent to dismissing presidentially appointed commissioners wouldn't extend to the Fed. Rather, it is playing out in the court of public opinion. An institution that depends on credibility to function effectively is suddenly defending design choices and construction management—issues with greater public salience—instead of the more arcane details of monetary policy. | |
| 🎥 Medicaid is huge. Here's why, and what Trump's cutting. | |
| | PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/BLOOMBERG | |
Medicaid began as a welfare program, but 60 years later, it covers one in five Americans. WSJ explains how it got so big, and how the president's "big beautiful bill" will change it. | |
- The Commerce Department reports June retail sales figures at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- The British Open begins.
- Earnings: Netflix, GE Aerospace, Novartis, Abbott Laboratories, PepsiCo, Elevance Health, U.S. Bancorp, Travelers
- 📰 Today's paper
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The number of birthday deals Eva Larson, 31, collected over nine days in June. She calculated that she spent $258 to receive $509 in freebies. Clint Svatos racked up 40 freebies on his 38th birthday in February, a new personal record. He avoids anything that requires him to spend more than $10. They're part of a proud breed of competitive birthday freeloaders who celebrate the big day by trying to get one over on Big Retail. | |
| It's time to rethink the one-page résumé. | |
Job seekers have been trained to keep résumés to a single page, designed to highlight their credentials for busy hiring managers. But there's no need to cater to a human glance if a bot is doing the first screening. In fact, a longer résumé can give applicants more space for the relevant words and phrases AI is trained to spot. | |
- Opinion: Love or loathe Jerome Powell, Donald Trump chose him. Trump also chose the tariffs, and a bunch of expensive spending handouts in the new budget bill. Now the President has to live with his choices.
- Buy Side from WSJ: Upgrade your athleisure wardrobe with these comfy, flattering joggers for men.
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| | About Us | The 10-Point is your guide to The Wall Street Journal's reporting and analysis you can't get anywhere else. Your subscription makes our journalism possible. Today's newsletter was curated and edited by Sarah Chacko and Tina Fuhr in collaboration with Editor in Chief Emma Tucker. | |
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