「Silver Squeeze Air Force」 Shorts $45 Million Worth of Silver, Faces $4.46 Million in Unrealized Losses

March 19 — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell publicly addressed the impact of the Justice Department (DOJ) investigation on his tenure for the first time Wednesday, stating he has no plans to leave the Fed Board until the probe is fully completed and could serve as interim chair until a successor is confirmed. Powell noted he has not decided whether to serve out his full Board term through 2028, with that call hinging on what is best for the institution and the public. The ongoing DOJ investigation and relevant legal proceedings are key factors in his decision to remain, he added. Separately, the Fed held interest rates steady in the 3.5% to 3.75% range for the second straight meeting. During his post-meeting press conference, Powell downplayed expectations of near-term rate cuts, emphasizing current policy is near a neutral level and there is no compelling reason to cut rates until the economy shows meaningful signs of weakness.

On March 19, senior U.S. officials told The Washington Post the Pentagon has asked the White House to greenlight a congressional budget request exceeding $200 billion to fund a war with Iran. The request’s scale far outstrips the cost of the administration’s current large-scale airstrike operations and is all but certain to face pushback from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. It aims to urgently ramp up production of key weapons, which have been significantly depleted over the past three weeks. White House officials say the Pentagon’s ask is unlikely to clear Congress. Sources familiar with the matter note the Pentagon has floated several funding proposals of varying sizes over the past two weeks. Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg is leading the effort, with his team developing a series of funding proposals to quickly address the Pentagon’s ammunition shortage. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton—a Republican senator—is also pushing to include additional fun

On March 19, per HTX market data, Bitcoin briefly dropped to $70,500 this morning but has since rebounded to around $71,000, with its 24-hour loss narrowing to 4.04%.

March 19 — CME FedWatch data shows that following today’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision: - Probability of holding rates steady through April: 97%; 25bp rate cut: 2%; 25bp rate hike: 1% - Probability of holding steady through June: 84.4%; cumulative 25bp rate cut probability: 14.4%; cumulative 25bp rate hike: 1.2% The next two FOMC meetings are scheduled for April 29 and June 17.

March 19 – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that most Fed participants do not view a rate hike as the base case, noting officials discussed the two-way risk of interest rates during their meeting and also mentioned the possibility of a hike as the next policy step.

March 19 (Wednesday) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the uncertainty stemming from the Iran conflict has made the Fed’s latest economic projections feel like guesswork. “For this economic forecast summary, many have noted that if there’s one to skip, this is it,” Powell stated. “Given all the uncertainties from the conflict, we simply can’t predict what’s ahead.”