Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell brushed away concerns that a second Trump presidency could imperil the central bank's independence.

It comes as investors begin to reshuffle their portfolios at the mid-year mark, while traders earlier this week embraced bets on 3 percentage points of cuts over the next nine months.

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.

Yields on two-year notes rose about 5 basis points to 4.88%, shifting the US yield curve to the flattest in more than a month.

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.

The so-called core consumer price index climbed 0.3% from March, snapping a streak of three above-forecast readings which spurred concern that inflation was becoming entrenched.

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 recalibration came amid the best two-day rally for short-end Treasuries since January, following the central bank's latest policy meeting on Wednesday.

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

Traders have built positions in options linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate targeting a scenario where officials keep rates steady past December's policy meeting.

The Federal Reserve chair's comments coincide with the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington. They also come as groups like the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision are being scrutinized.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System stepped up advances by 37% or more to Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic banks ahead of their failures, the GAO says in a post-mortem on last year's banking crisis. The findings add to the debate about whether the system should be a lender of last resort.

The Federal Reserve Board governor and frequent regulatory critic says it would be appropriate for the U.S. to deviate from the agreed-upon international standards to reflect "unique characteristics" of the American banking system.

Wednesday's report adds to evidence that progress on taming inflation may be stalling, despite the Fed keeping interest rates at a two-decade high.

Traders ceased fully pricing in a Fed rate cut before September after the March employment report revealed that US payrolls expanded by the most in nearly a year.

He called the January and February inflation readings "a little bit concerning," and said he needs to see more progress on prices to gain confidence that they're moving toward the Fed's 2% target.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michael Barr Wednesday discussed regulators' ongoing concerns over banks' unrealized losses and commercial real estate values — particularly in the office sector.

The Federal Reserve Board governor also said the central bank needs to make operational improvements to its last resort lending facility.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s latest client survey showed that outright short positions in US Treasuries rose to the most since the start of the year in the week leading up to April 1.

Treasuries fell across the curve after data showed manufacturing unexpectedly expanded for the first time since September 2022 — while input costs climbed.