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Kevin Warsh received the fewest votes of any Fed chair in history. Will it cripple him? View More

watch nowVIDEO4:3204:32How Jerome Powell reshaped the FedThe Fed It has taken 8½ years, but on Wednesday President Donald Trump finally succeeded in reversing one of the few mistakes he has admitted to making as president. In November 2017, Trump chose Jerome Powell to chair the Federal Reserve, opting for someone he saw as malleable over a charismatic but youthful former Fed governor, Kevin Warsh. Trump has regretted it ever since.The question that has consumed the markets as the Senate moved toward Wednesday's confirmation is whether Trump will come to regret this decision, too. Fed chairs "change once they get the job," Trump said in January. If Warsh loses Trump's backing, the new Fed chair may not have the bulwark of congressional support that helped Powell resist Trump. Whether Warsh can succeed in the mission of "regime change" he has pledged for the Fed will hinge on his ability to navigate this exceptionally challenging political landscape. But while he starts his tenure at a significant political disadvantage compared to Powell, Warsh's history and his relationship with Trump suggest the new chair is more likely to blaze a more independent trail than his detractors believe. And he may do so in a collaborative way that would surprise those who are bracing for immediate friction.Warsh, 56, was confirmed Wednesday with just 54 votes, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as the only Democratic "yes" vote. That's the weakest support a Fed chair has received since the position became Senate-confirmed in 1977. The previous record low was held by Democrat-nominated Janet Yellen, who received 56 votes in 2014, including 11 from Republicans.  window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Among those who voted against Warsh this time was Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. That is a reversal from 2006, when Schumer backed Warsh for a Fed governorship because Warsh "knows unequivocally that the Fed must be independent, nonideological, and nonpartisan." Warsh was confirmed unanimously that year.Powell found a vital ally in the Senate in the face of Trump's attacks. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., threatened to delay Warsh's confirmation until the Department of Justice dropped a criminal investigation into the Fed. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro did so in April, clearing the way for Warsh."Powell met more than twice as often with U.S. senators than his predecessors," University of Maryland researchers who studied Fed chairs' calendars found in a study published in April. Many longtime Fed watchers have already written off Warsh as a lost cause, because they see him as either deluded in thinking he can sway the Fed's hardened bureaucracy or because he is a mere "sock puppet" for Trump, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Warsh's most prominent progressive critic, calls him.But Warsh isn't a bystander who lucked his way into arguably the economy's most influential role. Trump wrestled publicly with whether to give him the job. He offered the Fed position to Scott Bessent, now treasury secretary, before he had even won the 2024 election. Last year, Warsh advised Trump not to fire Powell, a decision that would likely have benefitted Warsh personally at the expense of the Fed's credibility. He went on to win Trump's nomination in January amid a whisper campaign that his record of concern about inflation and worries about tariffs made him a poor match for this president. Read more CNBC politics coverageGas tax holiday as Trump promises? Not so fast, trucking, construction industries sayTrump doesn't need Congress to restart Iran strikes: HegsethAnalysis: Iran war hangs over Trump's China trip — and his presidencyCongress members push Chinese auto parts ban before Trump China trip Warsh is no one's idea of a liberal. He has been publicly conservative since he ran successfully for president of Stanford University's student senate. He went on to work as a research assistant for his intellectual idol, the archconservative economist Milton Friedman. But more than his ideology, it is Warsh's ability to connect his set of beliefs to others' ideas and ambitions that makes him politically potent, said John Cogan, a Stanford economist who taught Warsh as an undergraduate and now counts him as a friend."I've known him as a person who is able to understand other points of view and one who is willing to find common ground," Cogan said.Warsh will need to immediately put his skills as a political operator to work, both within and outside the Fed's walls. Inside the Fed, Warsh will need to bring around a committee of interest-rate voters who are alarmed by the risk of resurgent inflation. The consumer price index jumped to 3.8% in April, federal-government data released this week showed, driven by the Iran war's energy shock. Even stripping away volatile energy prices, so-called core inflation has now risen for three straight months, leading some Fed members to worry they haven't set interest rates high enough to restrain price increases regardless of what is happening in the Middle East.  Cutting interest rates may be a tall order There will be little appetite on the Fed to deliver the quick rate cut that Trump has demanded. The president said recently he would be disappointed if Warsh can't deliver it. Warsh told senators during his confirmation hearing that he never promised Trump he could. And he has framed his mission as Fed chair around the idea that the central bank has been overly obsessed with the minutiae of short-term economic data at the expense of resetting its credibility with the markets. The evidence for that lost credibility shows up in inflation expectations, in Warsh's view: Neither market participants nor consumers surveyed by the Fed expect inflation to return to the Fed's 2% goal within five years.Warsh will try to reset those expectations by getting the Fed out of the business of committing to where interest rates will go in the form of forward guidance, revamping communications so that the institution speaks more with one voice, updating the data sources the Fed relies on, and striking a new bargain with the Treasury Department about how the two share responsibility for managing the economy.Can Warsh put that all through and deliver the rate cut Trump expects? The market doesn't think so, assigning him a 1% chance of getting rates down this year, according to CME FedWatch. There is a distinct possibility that Trump will explode if Warsh fails in June to put through cuts. But that idea assumes passivity from Warsh. The other option is that the Fed chair who has spent nearly a decade preparing for this moment will continue to persuade the president that he can deliver the golden era Trump so desperately wants. It would hardly be the first time Trump pivoted suddenly toward a politically convenient idea when it comes from someone he trusts.Warsh's divided support may say more about how the nation has changed than his politics. His pitch has been that he understands better than anyone how to ensure the Fed's lasting influence as a stabilizing force for Americans' livelihoods despite the broader political deterioration. He now has the chance to prove himself. If he fails, a bulwark of U.S. economic strength will decline with him.  Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

In the most divisive vote ever for a Fed chair, Warsh, 56, won confirmation to take over for Jerome Powell. View More

watch nowVIDEO4:3204:32How Jerome Powell reshaped the FedThe Fed Kevin Warsh was confirmed Wednesday as the next Federal Reserve chair, taking over the central bank at a time when President Donald Trump is pushing for lower interest rates even as fresh inflation data complicates the case for cuts.In the most divisive vote ever for a Fed chair, Warsh, 56, won confirmation to take over for Jerome Powell, who has served in the top leadership position since 2018 and whose term will expire Friday.The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Warsh, ending a monthslong saga that began in the summer of 2025 and included an extensive search for Powell's successor. The vote was almost completely along party lines, with only Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman crossing over to vote for Warsh, who becomes the 11th Fed chair of the modern banking era.Powell will stay on at the Fed as he has two years left in his term as governor. He said last month that he will remain at least until an investigation into renovations at the Fed's headquarters is complete. The last time a Fed chair returned to the board was nearly 80 years ago.Trump has made no secret that he expects Warsh to lower rates after having lashed out repeatedly at Powell for monetary policy the president has felt was too restrictive. Warsh was part of a derby that included nearly a dozen candidates at one point, including current Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman."The Senate's confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve is a welcome step towards finally restoring accountability, competence, and confidence in Fed decision-making," said White House spokesman Kush Desai. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); The confirmation comes, however, following separate reports this week showing inflation well above the Fed's 2% target and pipeline pressures accelerating at their highest levels in more than three years. Markets have been scaling back expectations for rate cuts and are even pricing in a chance of an increase later this year.Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., praised the Fed's decision and Warsh's inflation-fighting credentials."Chairman Warsh has repeatedly emphasized the importance of placing affordability and price stability at the center of our economic agenda," Hill said in a statement. "His commitment to disciplined monetary policy will help restore confidence in our economy and support long-term prosperity."Warsh could not be reached for comment.This will be Warsh's second stint at the Fed.During his first run, he served from 2006-11, a time during which Fed officials initially dismissed dangers from the subprime mortgage meltdown that led to the global financial crisis, then implemented a historic set of policies aimed at rescuing the economy. Part of those rescue endeavors included an unprecedented expansion of asset purchases that sent the Fed's balance sheet past $4 trillion, a program known as quantitative easing that Warsh argued then had gone too far.Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has been a consistent critic of monetary policy and last year, in a CNBC interview, called for "regime change" at the central bank. During the period, he's been a lecturer at the Stanford School of Business and has served on various boards of directors. Warsh takes the place of Stephen Miran on the Fed board, who was appointed to governor in September 2025 to fill the few months left on the unexpired term of Adriana Kugler, who resigned unexpectedly in August. Miran has dissented from each of the Federal Open Market Committee's votes since taking the seat. When the committee voted to cut by a quarter percentage point at each of last three meetings in 2025, Miran voiced support for a larger half-point cut. This year, he's opposed votes to keep the federal funds rate steady, arguing for quarter-point reductions. watch nowVIDEO1:0001:00Senate confirms Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chairPower Lunch Warsh's first meeting as chair of the FOMC is scheduled for June 16-17.He also will be the wealthiest Fed chair ever, with holdings well north of $100 million. As Fed chair, he'll have to divest himself of many of his investments under a strict new policy implemented since disclosures of questionable trading practices among top officials.Correction: Rep. French Hill is from Arkansas. An earlier version misstated the state. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Cisco's AI story has finally started resonating with Wall Street, with the stock hitting a record late last year and continuing to rally in 2026. View More

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins speaks at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington on April 15, 2026.Alex Wong | Getty Images Cisco shares soared 17% in extended trading on Wednesday after the networking company issued results and guidance that topped Wall Street's projections.The company said it's cutting its workforce this quarter by fewer than 4,000 jobs, representing less than 5% of total employees.Here's how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:Earnings per share: $1.06 adjusted vs. $1.04 expectedRevenue: $15.84 billion vs. $15.56 billion expectedRevenue increased 12% in the quarter ended April 25, from $14.15 billion a year earlier, Cisco said in a statement. Net income rose to $3.37 billion, or 85 cents per share, from $2.49 billion, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.For the fiscal fourth quarter, Cisco called for $1.16 to $1.18 in adjusted earnings per share on $16.7 billion to $16.9 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for $1.07 in adjusted earnings per share on $15.82 billion in revenue.Cisco said it has received $5.3 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure and hyperscaler orders so far this year, and raised its expected orders for the fiscal year to $9 billion, up from $5 billion. The company said it expects fiscal-year revenue in that market of $4 billion, up from a prior projection of $3 billion. While Cisco has trailed many of its data center peers in the AI race, Wall Street has been rallying to the company's story of late, pushing the stock to a record late last year, finally surpassing its dot-com high. The shares have continued to climb this year, gaining 33%, topping the Nasdaq's 14% advance.Should the stock maintain its after-hours gains through Thursday, it would mark the sharpest rally since 2002. CEO Chuck Robbins wrote in a blog post on Wednesday that the latest round of job cuts will begin on May 14. Cisco is the latest company to announce head count reductions tied to AI."The companies that will win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment toward the areas where demand and long-term value creation are strongest," Robbins said. "I'm confident Cisco will be one of those winners. This means making hard decisions — about where we invest, how we're organized, and how our cost structure reflects the opportunity in front of us."Cisco said in a filing that severance and other costs will result in pre-tax charges of $1 billion, and that the company will recognize about $450 million of that in the fiscal fourth quarter.During the third quarter, Cisco announced switches and routers that use its next-generation processor. The company also debuted a leaderboard for ranking generative AI models based on their robustness against cybersecurity attacks.Cisco's networking revenue increased 25% to $8.82 billion, exceeding the $8.47 billion consensus among analysts polled by StreetAccount. Security revenue was flat at about $2 billion, compared to StreetAccount's $1.99 billion consensus.Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.WATCH: Bullish action into Cisco earnings: Here's what options traders are looking at watch nowVIDEO1:1101:11Bullish action into Cisco earnings: Here's what options traders are looking atHalftime Report Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Top Microsoft executives testified in Musk v. Altman this week, spelling out concerns they had in the early days of the partnership with OpenAI. View More

In this articleAMZNORCLNVDAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, right, speaks as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looks on during the OpenAI DevDay event in San Francisco on Nov. 6, 2023.Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Elon Musk's courtroom battle with Sam Altman over the last couple weeks has primarily revolved around the evolution of OpenAI. But it's also shined a light on the challenges that the rapid growth of artificial intelligence caused OpenAI's closest partner: Microsoft. Discovery in the high-profile case showed that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was worried about OpenAI supplanting his company in the tech hierarchy as far back as April 2022, seven months before the launch of ChatGPT, the event that kicked off the generative AI boom and turned Altman into a household name."I don't want to be IBM and OpenAI to be Microsoft," Nadella wrote in a email to executives that April, roughly three years after Microsoft wrote its first $1 billion check to OpenAI. Nadella was referring to an earlier technology era, when Microsoft became more important than IBM, the dominant computer maker at the time. In 1980, IBM agreed to distribute Microsoft's operating system on its computers, only to see the software maker eventually suck up the lion's share of market value. To avoid suffering the same fate, Microsoft needed to make sure that it wasn't just providing Azure cloud services to OpenAI but was also positioned to benefit from its early intellectual property agreement with the lab that was on the frontline of large language model development. "It was becoming even more core and important that we had real agency at every layer of the stack," Nadella testified on Monday, in the Musk v. Altman trial taking place in Oakland, California. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrives at the federal court in Oakland, Calif., on May 11, 2026.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images In the four-plus years since the IBM quip, history has justified Nadella's early fears. OpenAI's models and services are so widespread that the company has ballooned to an $850 billion valuation and has forged partnerships with Microsoft cloud rivals Google, Oracle and, as of February, Amazon. "Essentially, we were forgoing the opportunity on our side to develop it on our own, so it was very important to us to have IP rights," Nadella said on Monday, referring to the initial pact with OpenAI. Microsoft and OpenAI have had to change the terms of their agreement multiple times. Most recently, in April, they revamped the deal so that revenue share payments from OpenAI to Microsoft would be capped and OpenAI could now serve "all of its products" to customers across any provider, including Amazon and Google.The partnership remains critical to Microsoft's cloud business, as demand continues to soar for the computing resources required to run big models. Around 45% of Microsoft's commercial remaining performance obligations were tied to OpenAI at the end of 2025, and the software giant is building out data centers to accommodate the demand. "Better to be an investor and not even take all this execution risk!" Nadella told executives in a July 2022 email that came out in discovery. 'Very proud of what we've enabled' By June 2026, Microsoft will have spent over $100 billion on OpenAI, inclusive of investment commitments, infrastructure and hosting costs, Michael Wetter, a Microsoft corporate development executive, said in court on Wednesday.Kevin Scott, Microsoft's technology chief, testified that the first supercomputer his company built with OpenAI years ago took about six months, assembling together 10,000 graphics processing units that occupied a big chunk of a data center.Scott said he's "very proud of what we've enabled OpenAI to go do, both in terms of the research and the products that they're shipping to the world."  Nadella said at trial that embracing OpenAI taught Microsoft how to build supercomputers that were fit for AI work, and that "one benefit of that was the know-how we would get from doing so."But while Microsoft has established itself as a key provider of AI infrastructure, it's no longer uniquely positioned to offer OpenAI's technology to customers. And Microsoft has struggled to sell its own AI story, which helps explain why its stock is down 16% this year while its cloud peers are all trading higher. By January 2024, Nadella was saying that models were becoming "more of a commodity." Two months later, the company hired Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of the DeepMind AI lab now owned by Google. Nadella made Suleyman CEO of a new AI unit, putting him in charge of Bing and other products. Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, speaks at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the company at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on April 4, 2025.David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images With Suleyman at the AI helm, Microsoft focused on building its own models that could potentially compete against OpenAI, as well as other leaders in the space like Anthropic and Google. In August of last year, the company said it had started testing a homegrown AI model that could lead to enhancements to its Copilot assistant for consumers.As Microsoft tries to find its footing in the world of models, the market is moving with accelerating speed. In March, Microsoft restructured its Copilot leadership team, picking a recent hire, former Snap executive Jacob Andreou, to run consumer and commercial Copilot experience. As part of the shakeup, Suleyman was left to pursue model development. Since 2024, Microsoft has openly acknowledged that OpenAI is a competitor, and has been allying itself with other companies building AI models, including Musk's xAI, releasing those tools to developers through Azure. Last year, Microsoft said it was tapping AI models from Anthropic for certain use cases, and soon after agreed to invest $5 billion in the OpenAI rival. Microsoft has AI to thank for much of its continued growth in Azure. And it has highly profitable equity investments on its balance sheet. But unlike ChatGPT, none of its AI-infused software products have become a monster hit. That's left the company with a scattered strategy that involves engaging with many model developers while also building its own pieces of the stack, including models and chips. "Some of the rights we had in the early days, we were flexible and sort of let them go, so that OpenAI could continue to scale and thrive," Nadella said on Monday. "To me, our core ethos as a company is to be a good partner and a good platform company, so we keep that as front and center, irrespective of what may be happening on the side."WATCH: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testifies in OpenAI case watch nowVIDEO3:1703:17Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testifies in OpenAI caseTechCheck Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Treasury yields climbed after a hotter-than-expected reading on the producer price index. View More

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange.Brendan McDermid | Reuters The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield moved higher on Wednesday as investors digested the implications of hotter-than-expected wholesale prices in April.The yield on the 10-year note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — was last up less than 1 basis point at 4.473%. It had risen as much as 3 basis points to hit a high of 4.49%, reaching its highest level since July 17.The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was more than 1 basis point lower at 3.981%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was up more than 1 basis point at 5.042%. It had earlier advanced 2 basis points to 5.05%, its highest level since July 17.One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions. The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% for the month, much higher than the 0.5% Dow Jones consensus forecast and the upwardly revised 0.7% March increase. This was the largest monthly gain since March 2022.On an annual basis, the index was up 6%, the biggest increase since December 2022."Wednesday's PPI was strikingly elevated as producers are feeling the ripple effects of $100 per barrel oil, which is raising the cost of production across the board, as energy is arguably the most critical input cost," said Clark Bellin, president and CIO of Bellwether Wealth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that non-seasonally adjusted consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.8% in April — the highest since May 2023. That was more than the 3.7% year-over-year inflation expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. Annual core inflation, excluding food and energy, rose by 2.8%, also above the 2.7% anticipated by economists.By either measure, inflation is running far hotter than the central bank's stated goal of 2%, which the Fed seeks in order to meet its objective of ensuring stable prices in the economy.The hot inflation readings could complicate the Federal Reserve's path forward."The Federal Reserve has an inflation problem on its hands at a time when the labor market has slowed down, and that makes its job much more difficult, especially as the central bank is set to welcome a new Chair in the very near-term," Bellin said. — CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han also contributed to this report. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Mortgage rates surged to the highest level since March in reaction to two hotter-than-expected inflation reports. View More

watch nowVIDEO1:3201:32Hot inflation read sends mortgage rates higherThe Exchange An exceptionally hot read on inflation early Wednesday, the government's Producer Price Index, or PPI, sent bond yields higher, and mortgage rates followed. Rates had already been surging higher earlier this week on news of more trouble in negotiations over the Iran war.The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage rose Wednesday to 6.57%, according to Mortgage News Daily. It is now 15 basis points higher than it was last Friday, and it is sitting at the highest level since March, when falling rates reversed course due to the start of the war.Wednesday's increase was much smaller than the jump following another inflation report: the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. "PPI, in general, is not as big a deal as CPI," explained Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "Bonds are also assuming a corrective drop after the war is over."The move comes just as the spring market, which stalled in March, was finally beginning to see new life. The National Association of Realtors said data from Sentrilock, which provides the lockboxes real estate agents use on for-sale properties, recorded home showings in April were up 8% year over year. All four regions of the country saw increases. Get Property Play directly to your inboxCNBC's Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.Subscribe here to get access today. Some of the new demand is being driven by a cooling in home prices. They're still higher than they were a year ago nationally, but not by much. And then there is supply."Inventory has not rebounded yet, we're still 11-12% below where we should be," said Andy Walden, head of mortgage and housing market research at ICE, a mortgage technology company.Walden also noted the recent increase in interest rates, roughly 40 basis points higher than February. Mortgage rates, however, were closer to 7% at this time last year."If you look at what that means for buying power out there in the market, it's down about 4% from where it was in February," he said. "We're more affordable than last year, but not as affordable as we were early this year." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

President Donald Trump and lawmakers are eyeing federal gas tax relief, but opponents contend a pause wouldn't help consumers and could harm roads. View More

In this article@CL.1@RB.1Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Fuel prices are displayed at a Brooklyn gas station on April 28, 2026 in New York City.Spencer Platt | Getty Images Opposition to President Donald Trump's plan for a gas tax holiday to ease cost-of-living concerns is coming not just from his political foes, but also from the Republican-leaning trucking and construction sectors.Those industries rely heavily on the road and transportation infrastructure projects funded by the federal gas and diesel taxes."A gas tax holiday is a good way to blow a hole in the collection of revenue for funding highway and transit repairs, but it's a bad way to help drivers who are affected by higher gas prices," said Brian Turmail, national spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group. Gas prices are up about 50% since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, clocking in at $4.50 a gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA. Diesel, used in trucks and construction equipment, is higher at $5.64 a gallon. Iran has largely blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil normally travels. Read more CNBC politics coverageGas tax holiday as Trump promises? Not so fast, trucking, construction industries sayTrump doesn't need Congress to restart Iran strikes: HegsethAnalysis: Iran war hangs over Trump's China trip — and his presidencyCongress members push Chinese auto parts ban before Trump China trip Trump on Monday floated the idea of a gas tax holiday, though any such move would require action from Congress, which has sole authority over federal taxation. Republican lawmakers followed Trump's proposal by introducing legislation that would allow a pause on the 18.4-cent per gallon federal gas tax and the 24.4-cent diesel tax.The federal gas tax primarily funds the Highway Trust Fund, money from which is used on federal highway construction, maintenance, public transit and infrastructure projects. That money is vital to certain industries, including trucking and construction, that either rely on federal roads or are contracted to complete infrastructure projects.Opponents of gas tax holidays — including a trio of trucking groups that spoke out against the proposal on Monday — contend that consumers end up saving little since the pause is implemented at the wholesale level. Instead of offering relief, a pause could deplete the Highway Trust Fund."Without replacement funds, fuel tax revenues supporting critical investments in highway safety and infrastructure projects would evaporate, hindering the safe and efficient movement of people and goods across the country," the American Trucking Associations, Truckload Carriers Association and National Tank Truck Carriers wrote.Some congressional Democrats have offered similar arguments, claiming that a gas tax holiday would be a drop in the bucket for consumers and that the only real way to bring down gas prices is to end the war with Iran. "Eighteen cents of gas tax relief a gallon doesn't even come close to the $1.50 gas price increase from this war, and Republicans need to stop pretending that it does," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said from the Senate floor Tuesday. "Offering Americans literal pennies on the dollar to cope with skyrocketing gas prices just won't cut it — 18 cents is not $1.50."Budget hawks could also complicate Trump's gas tax break plan. And the national debt is back in the news after surpassing 100% of GDP earlier in May.Even a short-term gas tax pause could be costly. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected in March that a three-month holiday without adding a different federal revenue source could add $10.5 billion to the deficit. In Congress, the gas tax issue doesn't break cleanly along partisan lines. Some Republicans rushed to support Trump's proposal. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said on Monday she would introduce legislation to suspend the federal gas tax, though she did not provide details. And Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill that would halt the gas tax for at least 90 days.And a handful of Democrats have been open to the idea.James Talarico, a member of the Texas state House and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, last month called for a pause on the federal gas tax. And House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., introduced legislation this year that would suspend the federal gas tax whenever the national average exceeds $4 per gallon.But even some Republicans seemed skeptical."The gas tax of course pays for highways and bridges, and so if you suspend it, it means you don't have the money going into the highway trust fund. But as a temporary measure, I could live with it," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday.Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., similarly said he could live with a gas tax holiday on a temporary basis, but is more focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz. "Because that's what's going to bring gas prices down the fastest and in the most significant way," Hoeven said.Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that he'd been opposed to past attempts at halting the federal gas tax, like when President Joe Biden proposed a similar measure in 2022 when prices spiked following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "If you lifted that, does that ultimately get passed on to consumer, to the customer, buyer out there, or does it get sucked up in the supply chain somewhere?" Thune said. "I think those are all fair questions to ask, but it's a conversation that I think we're willing to have, and I'm certainly willing to hear the president's arguments.— CNBC's Emily Wilkins and Karen Sloan contributed to this story.Correction: This article has been updated to correct a quote from Sen. John Cornyn. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Starmer's leadership is under pressure, sparking concern in the bond market. View More

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon attends an interview with Reuters in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., Nov. 5, 2025. Emily Elconin | Reuters JPMorgan Chase may reconsider a planned multibillion-dollar office tower in London if U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is ousted, the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, said on Wednesday. Speaking to Bloomberg in Paris, the head of America's biggest bank by assets said that while a change in leadership would not alter JPMorgan's fundamental strategy, it could force the lender to rethink its future in the U.K. capital. JPMorgan announced late last year that it would build a new 3 million-square-foot tower in London's Canary Wharf financial district to house up to 12,000 employees and serve as its U.K. headquarters. Construction is expected to take six years, during which time JPMorgan will also renovate its existing building on London's Bank Street. JPMorgan headquarters in London's Canary Wharf financial district, 6th Feb., 2024.Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images At the time of the announcement, JPMorgan said its plans for the new building were "subject to a continuing positive business environment in the U.K. and the receipt of the necessary approvals and agreements at a national and local level."Asked on Tuesday if the political instability gripping Britain changed his view on the mega project in London, Dimon responded that if a new government was "hostile to the banks, then yes."Dimon criticized the tax burden that the bank already faces in the U.K., telling Bloomberg JPMorgan had already paid $10 billion in "additional taxes" related to the construction project.JPMorgan currently employs more than 20,000 people in the U.K., 13,000 of whom are based in London. The bank said in November that its construction and office upgrade projects would contribute an estimated £9.9 billion ($13.4 billion) to the U.K. economy and create more than 7,800 jobs in the coming six years. Its existing operations in London are estimated to contribute £7.5 billion a year to the local economy. Starmer's leadership is hanging in the balance, after his party's poor performance in the U.K.'s local elections last week led to widespread demands from lawmakers for his resignation. As of Tuesday morning, 90 members of Parliament from the governing Labour Party have called on the prime minister to step down, while more than 100 signed a statement backing Starmer to stay put. Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a speech on May 11, 2026, in London, England in a bid to secure his premiership. Carl Court | Getty Images A backlash against Starmer's Labour Party saw huge gains for the right-wing Reform UK party and the left-wing Green Party in last week's poll. But bond vigilantes have largely been supportive of Starmer and his finance minister, Rachel Reeves, retaining their positions relative to potential alternatives, with U.K. bonds — known as gilts — selling off in previous bouts of uncertainty over their political futures.On Tuesday, gilts sold off across the curve amid the political turmoil. By Wednesday morning, they were rallying as investors reacted to Starmer's defiance of calls for his resignation. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconU.K. 10-year gilt For his part, Dimon threw his support behind Starmer and Reeves in Tuesday's interview. "I think Keir Starmer's a very smart guy," he told Bloomberg. "Politics is very tough. They're in a bind because of debts and deficits, they inherited a lot of that, I think the world of Rachel Reeves, and they've got to be tough. They've got to say 'we're going to do these things [that] in the short term may not be great,' but governments have to get the stuff done right that grows the economy." He also praised Starmer's approach to repairing the U.K.'s strained post-Brexit relations with the European Union. "I think they need to work closer with Europe. If you remember, Keir Starmer and [French President Emmanuel] Macron, they were going to work closer," he said. "Not reversing Brexit, but military alliances, intelligence alliances, making sure the economies have economic relationships that are good for both the continent and good for the U.K."Starmer is set to meet Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday morning, ahead of a speech from King Charles III in Parliament outlining the government's agenda. During a routine Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the prime minister said he would see his five-year mandate through. Without Starmer's resignation, a Labour leadership challenge — which would determine Starmer's fate as leader of the governing party — can only be triggered if 20% of Labour MPs support a challenger. Currently, that means 81 Labour MPs would need to back a potential replacement. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Property sales can sometimes result in capital losses due to various reasons. Taxpayers are allowed to set off such losses against capital gains. Both short-term and long-term losses can be carried forward for up to eight years. Full details here. View More

U.K. gilts and bonds faced heavy selling pressure in response to the latest 'Starmer drama', as the prime minister faced down rivals ahead of the King's Speech. View More

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images Britain's King Charles III set out the agenda of a fragile U.K. government on Wednesday after Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced down calls for his resignation that sparked heavy selling pressure on gilts in the previous session. The State Opening of Parliament and King's Speech, a grand affair in which the monarch presents the government's legislative agenda for the next parliamentary period, took place after Starmer's political leadership remained under threat following the political fallout of the ruling Labour Party's poor performance in local elections last week.Starmer appears to have seen off any immediate leadership challenge for now, and will hope that today's pomp, pageantry and policy agenda can shift attention away from the current crisis.That doesn't mean the leadership threat has gone away. Ahead of King's address in the House of Lords Wednesday morning, Starmer had a brief meeting, reportedly lasting only 17 minutes, with one of his main leadership rivals, Wes Streeting.Streeting — the U.K's health secretary — had reportedly asked to meet privately with Starmer on Tuesday but had been refused. That came after a crunch cabinet meeting in which Starmer vowed to keep leading the Labour Party, despite over 80 lawmakers (at that point) calling on the PM to resign. watch nowVIDEO7:2307:23UK treating leadership ‘like some kind of game show’: O'NeillSquawk Box Europe Markets have spoken Markets had their own say on the political crisis in the U.K., which has seen four prime ministers in the past four years; yields on U.K. government bonds, known as gilts, saw double-digit gains on Tuesday as investors feared that any leadership would lead to a loosening of the fiscal discipline implemented by Starmer's Chancellor Rachel Reeves. On Wednesday, as Starmer's position in office look more assured, yields fell 2 to 6 basis points with the interest rate on the benchmark 10-year gilt hovering around 5.067%.Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and former U.K. treasury minister, told CNBC on Wednesday that the U.K. had to start being a "bit more adult." "It shocks me that voters are treating the leadership of the country like some kind of gameshow where you have a few months of the year and if we don't like you you're out, as evidenced by the scale of support for Reform in the council elections," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe.""It doesn't look to me that any of these voters seem to be concerned about the lack of growth or stability of financial markets ...on top of that, the idea that, constitutionally, some ambitious person can just come in and replace the current PM ... I think that is a really dangerous thing to do, given the fragility of our current electoral status," he added.Neil Wilson, Saxo UK investor strategist, said today's King's Speech may offer Starmer a reprieve, but might not be a stay of execution."The King's Speech may see a pause in the plotting, but bond markets are clearly on edge, and I would not be surprised if Cabinet resignations begin once the King is finished, or tomorrow morning." "Labour unions are calling for Starmer to not lead the party into the next election. The PM has just held a meeting with one of the main would-be leaders, Wes Streeting. As of send time no one has the numbers to challenge Starmer yet," he noted in emailed comments. watch nowVIDEO5:2205:22UK Prime Minister clings on as resignations stack upEurope Early Edition The PM appeared to throw down the gauntlet to potential challengers on Tuesday, but none have emerged publicly so far. Support for the PM has also emerged; as of Wednesday morning, 93 Labour MPs have called on Starmer to resign but 158 have said they back him to remain as leader. One saving grace for Starmer is that while a significant cohort of Labour lawmakers agree that they want a new party leader and PM, there is no overall agreement as to who they want to replace him; while some back Streeting, others back former Deputy PM Angela Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who would need to become an MP before mounting a leadership challenge.Streeting's allies today told the BBC they expect him to challenge Starmer for leadership as soon as Thursday. All smiles: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (L) and Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting (C) on July 3, 2025.Jack Hill | Afp | Getty Images The King's Speech The King's Speech sees the monarch deliver an outline of the government's agenda for the year ahead to parliament. The address is written by the government rather than the monarch and, this year, it gives Downing Street an opportunity to reset the political narrative at a time when swathes of the electorate have voiced dissatisfaction with the slow pace of change and improvements in the U.K. While higher inflation and dampened economic growth linked to the Iran and Ukraine wars are largely out of the government's control, the Labour leadership has come under fire for failing to get a grip on pressing domestic matters, particularly illegal immigration and cost of living pressures.The swell of political dissatisfaction with Starmer from many of his colleagues, and what appears to be his narrow escape from an immediate leadership challenge, provides the impetus for the government to revamp its legislative agenda. Ahead of the King's Speech this year, the government said it would include an "ambitious program" to "strengthen public services, reform the state and reverse decline." King Charles III, wearing the Imperial State Crown and the Robe of State reads the King's Speech from the The Sovereign's Throne next to Queen Camilla, wearing the George IV State Diadem in the House of Lords chamber, in the Houses of Parliament on July 17, 2024 in London, England.Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images "A stronger, fairer country that can weather the storm of global shocks and restore hope will be the focus of the new legislation set out in The King's Speech today," the government noted.Over 35 bills and draft bills would be unveiled in the speech, it added, which were designed to strengthen the UK's foundations through measures to bolster economic, energy and national security, as well as the country's relationship with the European Union. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.