🇺🇸 TODAY: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the Fed to stay open-minded on rates, saying AI-driven productivity and deregulation will help keep US inflation under control.

What happened

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Federal Reserve to stay open-minded on rates, saying AI-driven productivity and deregulation will help keep US inflation under control.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

If the Fed keeps rates lower because inflation stays calm, borrowing costs for companies and households fall, which can lift business investment and stock prices, while bond yields may decline.

Analyst inference

Bessent's comments add political pressure on the Fed's rate decisions. Investors weigh whether AI productivity and deregulation truly slow inflation, which affects expectations for interest rates, the dollar, and asset prices.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Watch for any Federal Reserve response to Bessent's call to stay open-minded on rates, since that shapes how investors judge future borrowing costs. Confirmed
2. Bessent proposes that AI-driven productivity and deregulation will keep US inflation under control, a claim investors can test against upcoming inflation and productivity data. Proposed
3. If inflation data later support Bessent's view, rate-cut expectations may rise, lowering borrowing costs and supporting stocks, but weak data could reverse that positioning quickly. Analyst inference

Evidence

• x.com