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The Justice Department’s investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has brought heightened attention to a key drama that will play out at the central bank in the coming months: Will Powell leave the Fed when his term as chair ends, or will he take the unusual step of remaining a governor?Powell’s term as Fed chair finishes on May 15, but because of the central bank’s complex structure, he has a separate term as one of seven members of its governing board that lasts until January 31, 2028. Historically, nearly all Fed chairs have stepped down from the board when they are no longer chair. But Powell could be the first in nearly 50 years to stay on as a governor.Many Fed-watchers believe that the criminal investigation into Powell’s testimony about cost overruns for Fed building renovations was intended to intimidate him out of taking that step. If Powell stays on the board, it would deny the White House a chance to gain a majority, undercutting the Trump administration’s efforts to seize greater control over what has for decades been an institution largely insulated from day-to-day politics.“I find it very difficult to see Powell leaving before midnight on Jan. 31, 2028,” said David Wilcox, a former top economist at the Fed and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “This is a mortal threat to the governance structure of the Fed as we’ve known it for 90 years. And I think that Powell does take that threat exceedingly seriously, and therefore will believe that it is his solemn duty to continue to occupy his seat on the board of governors.”Powell, 72, was appointed as Fed chair by Trump in 2018, and must step down from the position in May because his second four-year term is ending. He has declined several times to comment on his plans beyond that when asked by reporters. A spokesperson declined to comment for this story.Trump has sought to push out Powell before his time is up, obsessively attacking him for not cutting rates as sharply as the president wants, particularly in light of ongoing concerns about high costs for groceries, utilities, and housing that have remained a salient political issue even as inflation has cooled.On Tuesday, Trump highlighted that mortgage rates have declined in the past year. “If I had the help of the Fed, it would be easier,” he said. “But that jerk will be gone soon.”Or maybe not.Here is a look at the impacts of whether or not Powell stays on the board could have: What happens if Powell stays on the board Trump said Tuesday that he hopes to name a new Fed chair in the next few weeks. But that could get held up by the criminal investigation of Powell.Several Republican senators, including at least two on the banking committee who would have to approve Trump’s nominees to the Fed, have expressed skepticism that Powell committed crimes during his testimony last June regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive. That testimony is the subject of subpoenas sent to the Fed by U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he would not vote for any Fed nominees until the legal cloud around Powell is resolved. That would be enough to delay a nomination from getting out of the banking committee.If no new chair of the Fed’s board has been confirmed by May 15, then Powell could remain in that post until a replacement has been confirmed. As a result, the Fed might not cut interest rates anywhere near as quickly as Trump wants.If Powell stays on as a governor even after he is no longer chair, Trump could still name someone to lead the Fed but that would give him a total of three appointments on the board including two from his first term and short of a majority.So even if Trump nominates a chair who seeks to do the president’s bidding regarding interest rates, that person “would have very little persuasive power with his colleagues,” said Wilcox, who is also director of research at Bloomberg Economics. Powell, along with other members of the Fed’s 19-member interest-rate setting committee, could outvote the new chair. That hasn’t happened since 1986. What happens if Powell leaves the board In that case, Trump could nominate a fourth person to the board and gain a majority. He could even then add a fifth, if the Supreme Court allows his attempt to fire Governor Lisa Cook to proceed. The high court will hear her case on Wednesday.A majority on the board would enable the White House to make sweeping changes to the Fed. Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has advocated numerous reforms to reduce the central bank’s influence in the economy and financial markets.Trump’s majority on the Fed’s board could also remove some of the presidents of the 12 regional banks, who are members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee. The New York Fed president has a vote on the committee and four others vote on a rotating basis.Several of those bank presidents have expressed opposition to the deep rate cuts that Trump has demanded. The board of governors could seek to have them fired if a chair wanted to do so. What past Fed chairs have done While nearly all Fed chairs have left the board of governors before their terms were up, there is some precedent for Powell to stay. In 1978, then-Chair Arthur Burns stayed on the board for about three weeks after his chairmanship ended. But in 1948, then-Fed chairman Marriner Eccles remained as a governor for three years after finishing as chair, in part because President Harry Truman asked him to remain.In 1951, however, he played a key role in undercutting the Truman administration in a dispute over interest rates, which led to the Fed-Treasury Accord that established the modern Fed as a largely independent institution.Eccles became a symbol of Fed independence, though some academics say that reputation is overstated. The Fed’s principal office building currently under renovation and at the center of the criminal investigation of Powell is named after him.Truman then appointed a Treasury official, William McChesney Martin, to the Fed chairmanship and assumed he would do his bidding. Yet Martin defied Truman and raised interest rates. Years later, Truman ran into Martin in New York City and called him a “traitor.” The Fed’s second office building in Washington is named after Martin.“So it’s a cautionary tale also for Trump, thinking he’s going to get his own Fed chair in there,” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia University who studies the Fed. “Martin didn’t do what Truman wanted.” Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
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Everything from coffee to a used car is more expensive these days, and now your music streaming service is too. Spotify announced this week that it will raise prices for U.S. subscribersagain. Spotify Premium plans will jump up to $12.99 from $11.99 starting with the next billing date. The streamer last increased prices for U.S. users in 2024 after a decade-plus run of charging $9.99 for ad-free listening on its Premium individual streaming plan. The main individual plan isnt the only Spotify subscription getting a price hike. Discounted student plans are getting bumped up to $6.99 from $5.99, the Duo two-person plan will go to $18.99 from $16.99 and the streamers Family plans will hop to $21.99 from $19.99. Users outside the U.S. in Estonia and Latvia will also see prices go up next month. Spotify offered little in the way of explanation for the pricing changes. Occasional updates to pricing across our markets reflect the value that Spotify delivers, enabling us to continue offering the best possible experience and benefit artists, the company wrote in a blog post announcing the new pricing scheme. The early 2026 pricing changes are the third time Spotify has raised prices for U.S. listeners since launching in the country in 2011. Two of those price hikes were back-to-back $1 increases, one in 2023 and one in 2024. In 2024, Spotify explained that the service would occasionally update its pricing in order to continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experiencelanguage echoed in its short statement on the latest price increase. Why is Spotify raising prices? Spotify isnt explaining much about the decision to tack another dollar onto its core Premium subscription service, but the company is in a very different place now compared to when it was duking it out with Pandora in the dark ages of music streaming more than a decade ago. Now, the Swedish company is the globally dominant force in streaming audio, boasting north of 713 million users and 281 million paid subscribers worldwideup from 252 million in 2024. Apple Music and Amazon Music are the next closest competitors, but Spotify sits pretty with a much bigger share of the market. As a household name at this pointa level of brand recognition boosted even further by its genius flourish of marketing, Spotify WrappedSpotify will be increasingly hard-pressed to reach new subscribers in super-mature markets like the U.S. Like other public companies, Spotify is beholden to a set of shareholders who want to see the line go upand its sort of that simple. The company needs to squeeze more money out of its entrenched, very popular subscription service, all while likely approaching a saturation point in markets like the U.S. Changes afoot for the Swedish streamer Last November, the Financial Times reported that another price jump was on the way for Spotify subscribers in the U.S. Questions around the timing of the potential U.S. pricing step-ups . . . have taken a toll on sentiment, Deutsche Bank analysts observed late last year. Analysts at JPMorgan estimated that another $1 price hike in Spotifys U.S. market would net the company an additional $500 million in revenue. Another big factor: Spotifys founder and CEO Daniel Ek announced last September that he would step down from his role after steering the company through two decades of explosive growth. Entering 2026 without its longtime leader, Spotify wants to signal to investors that stability and sustainability are the name of the game. In Spotifys November earnings report, Ek emphasized that Spotifys business is healthy and focused on growing its profit and revenue. It all comes back to user fundamentals and thats where we are: 700 million users who keep coming back, engagement at all-time highs, Ek said. Were building Spotify for the long-term. After this weeks price increase, Wall Street will likely agree. But in an age of mounting inflation stress, yet another price hike may not go down easy for Spotifys already financially exhausted U.S. users.
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In two years, there could be a space station orbiting the moon. NASAs Gateway Lunar Space Station, set to launch as early as 2027, will support the Artemis IV and V moon missions and, eventually, be a jumping-off point for missions to Mars. And maybe, one day, a colony. But before any of that can happen, the Gateway will need a power sourcea powerful one, at that. The challenge is getting that energy supply into orbit the way anything reaches space: in the nose cone of a rocket. Gateways power will come from a pair of blankets of photovoltaic cells, known as Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSAs). Each is roughly the size of a football end zone, and together theyll provide 60 kilowatts for 24 hours a dayenough energy to power roughly 50 American homes. But to minimize their profile on the trip out of Earths atmosphere, the arrays will be launched in a rolled-up state, a pair of sci-fi rugs bound for lunar orbit. The Gateways ROSAs are built by space company Redwire, using tech initially developed by its subsidiary Deployable Space Solutions. When the arrays get to the Gateway, theyll be attached [to the station] and then roll out, says Mike Gold, a NASA veteran and Redwires president of civil and international space business. The unrolling process doesnt require an electric motor: A flexible boom simply guides the arrays as they unspool. After successfully testing the panels roll-out capabilities in July, Redwire is handing them off for prelaunch testing to space tech company Lanteris (formerly Maxar), which is building the Gateways power and propulsion element. Though the arrays for the Gateway are the largest and most powerful ROSAs that Redwire has built, the companys tech is all over space. Six smaller ROSAs have already deployed on the International Space Station, with two more set to be launched and installed in 2026. Smaller versions of Redwires arrays will power the new Space Inspire telecom satellites from aerospace company Thales Alenia Space (launching in 2026). Redwire is also working on two ROSA wings for Axiom Spaces planned module for the International Space Station, slated to launch in late 2027. We like to say we are second only to the sun when it comes to providing power in space, Gold says.
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