Scott Bessent Wants A Little ‘Imagination’ From The Fed, Expects No Rate Cuts Today

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday predicted that the Federal Reserve will not deliver rate cuts being sought by the Trump administration, but urged the central bank to be more open in its policymaking approach.

Speaking at an event in Washington, Bessent said he expects a “little bit of imagination” from the Fed, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The Treasury Secretary also believes that policymakers will prove to have been wrong in expecting President Donald Trump’s tariffs to drive up inflation. He added that the equity markets are already pricing in rate cuts going forward.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is all set to announce its next interest rate decision on Wednesday amid mounting pressure from President Trump to cut benchmark rates to boost the economy.

However, data from the CME FedWatch tool indicates a 96.9% probability that the Fed will maintain its key interest rate at the current 4.25% to 4.5% range in July.

Bessent also touched upon the topic of trade deals, urging watchers not to panic if there is no agreement with some countries by the August 1 deadline.

He expects August to be a busy month and that the escalation in tariffs would serve the purpose of getting the attention of the United States’ trade partners.

As for the trade deals struck with Japan and the European Union, Bessent said it had an impact on the latest round of talks with Chinese officials on a highly anticipated trade agreement.

“The rest of the world is now with us,” the Treasury Secretary asserted.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities edged up in Wednesday’s midday trading.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which mirrors the S&P 500 index, was up 0.08% at the time of writing, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which mirrors the Nasdaq 100, rose 0.24%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘extremely bullish’ territory.

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