The Federal Reserve held firm on its current interest rate levels after its latest meeting, but inflation numbers are leading to talk of potential action in third and fourth quarters.

Forty-four percent of respondents said they expect Trump to seek to to politicize the central bank or limit its power if he returns to the White House. Overall, they put a probability of 40% on the Fed losing its autonomy under a second Trump administration. 

Beth Hammack, who stepped down as the bank's co-head of global finance earlier this year, will take the helm as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland later this summer following the retirement of longtime President Loretta Mester.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michael Barr Monday spoke at length about efforts to enhance banks' liquidity and long-term debt positions after last year's bank failures while saying little about the capital hikes in the embattled interagency Basel III endgame proposal.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there have been "no decisions" on the controversial capital reform plan, but banks and others who have criticized the proposal are eager for an indication about what's next.

The Federal Open Market Committee thinks that confusing everyone completely is good for confidence, that intangible but entirely necessary ingredient for financial stability, writes the Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

What ultimately keeps the balance-sheet reduction going, the bank said, is the fact that the Federal Reserve will likely be undeterred by any brief spikes in a key overnight funding benchmark — the rate on overnight repurchase agreements.

The Federal Open Market Committee held the federal funds rate at current levels, citing "lack of further progress" toward meeting inflation goals.

Recent economic data have shown inflation stubbornly above the Fed's 2% target, putting rate cuts in jeopardy. Join us on May 2 at 3 p.m., as Lauren Saidel-Baker, an economist with ITR Economics, parses the FOMC meeting, Chair Powell's press conference and takes a look at future policy.

The Federal Reserve's Office of the Inspector General says the Fed has yet to fulfill 65 recommendations, and also identified 18 outstanding issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.