Bond traders are boosting bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates more aggressively next year, as speculation mounts that an eventual change of leadership at the central bank will deliver the easier monetary policy that President Donald Trump is demanding.

Slashing government interest rates could have the paradoxical effect of raising the interest rates paid in the real world.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday told Bloomberg TV in an interview that the Trump administration was not in a rush to nominate a new Federal Reserve Chair to replace Jerome Powell. Bessent said he continues to have regular meetings with Powell and that Powell had not told him whether he would leave his board seat.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered support for Jerome Powell amid regular attacks from Trump administration officials, saying he sees no reason for the Federal Reserve chair to step down. “There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now,