- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the reputation of the Fed.
- The big story: Trump administration moves against political opponents.
- The markets: Global markets are mixed; U.S. futures are down.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. I remember the days when a raised eyebrow from Ben Bernanke would spark hours of debate over the then Fed chair’s mindset about the state of the economy. His predecessor, Alan Greenspan, bragged about learning to “mumble with great incoherence.” The model of the inscrutable U.S. central banker illustrated the power and prestige of the Fed, evoking a need to be flexible and deflect any market reaction to anticipated interest rate shifts that might not come to pass.
Fast forward to today and, as one Fortune 500 CEO told me this week, “it’s a circus over there.” Later today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to announce the central bank’s first interest rate cut since December. In discussions this week, I casually asked some leaders about what they thought the Fed might do. Their reaction was quite different from the days of yore. There was concern about the Fed’s ability to manage inflation and maintain a stable financial system. “They didn’t act fast enough on inflation under Biden and they’re not acting fast enough on a shift in the labor market under Trump,” observed one.
This moment feels particularly fraught. There is, of course, the hope that a 0.25 percentage point cut might boost consumer confidence, corporate spending, homebuying, investing, hiring, and all the other good things that lower interest rates are meant to do. The challenge for leaders there, is that there are so many other variables creating volatility in those areas, from tariffs to technology.
But recent drama at the Fed has made some leaders worry about the health and reputation of the institution itself. President Trump has threatened to fire Powell, unsuccessfully tried to oust Governor Lisa Cook on unproven allegations of fraud, and appointed White House advisor Stephen Miran (who Fortune profiled back in May) as a governor earlier this week while continuing to push the Fed to cut rates. If there is a rate cut, the President could claim victory, making “the credibility of the Fed further erode.”
Most of the leaders I spoke to thought the best time to assess the impact of all this may not be today, but rather in the days and weeks ahead. One common belief that I certainly share in this climate: Bond yields, stock prices, hiring, borrowing, buying or any other metric may not move in a predictable pattern, no matter what the Fed decides to do.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Trump defamation lawsuit has “no merit,” NYT says
The New York Times responded to Trump’s lawsuit against the paper by saying, “This lawsuit has no merit. It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.” The suit—which you can read here—claims the paper tried to influence the 2024 election by, among other things, publishing an article which said, “[i]t is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump.” Trump vowed to crack down on “The Radical Left Media”: “We are going to stop them at each and every level!!!”
White House considering plan to label opponents as “terrorists”
The Trump administration is considering a plan to designate non-profit organizations that oppose the president as terrorist organizations, a classification that would automatically revoke their tax-exempt status, the NYT reports. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation are two institutions under scrutiny.
Firings continue for employees who comment on Charlie Kirk
A number of high-profile figures have been fired for their comments following the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the list is rapidly growing across industries. The wave of terminations is causing employers to reconsider how much they want to regulate employees' opinions as instances of political violence accrue.
Trump visits the U.K. with deals in hand
President Trump is enjoying a rare second state visit to the U.K. today. He arrives bearing a coterie of deals, worth multiple billions according to CNBC, from companies including BlackRock, Alphabet, and Blackstone, in addition to a series of new energy partnerships that include nuclear power.
TikTok ban deadline moved to December 16
Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration has extended the deadline for TikTok to reach a deal that would offload its U.S. operations from its Chinese parent. Potential buyers include a consortium including Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss the deal later this week.
Under Armour CEO’s defense of micromanagement
Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank is unapologetic about supporting micromanagement, calling the leadership style “underrated” and insisting that “the right answer will save us a lot of time.” Plank said in a recent YouTube interview that he wants his relationships with employees to reflect the relationship between him and his young adult children, based on mutual accountability and “modeling the behavior that I expect from my teammates to live by.”
Epstein contact book released
The House Oversight Committee released a tranche of new documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case, including the late billionaire sex offender’s contact book. Download a copy here. The book features hundreds of celebrities, politicians, and business leaders. None of the people within it are accused of wrongdoing. Significantly, President Trump’s name is not in it, although other members of his family are.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were down 0.14% this morning. The index closed down 0.13% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.17% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.19% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.25%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.61%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 1.05%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.23% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $116.8K.
Around the watercooler
New Opendoor Chairman Keith Rabois says he doesn’t know why the company has 1,400 employees: ‘We don’t need more than 200’ by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
BofA sees gold hitting $4,000 per ounce in the second quarter of 2026. Here’s why the bank sees more room to run after recent record highs by Nick Lichtenberg
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
