The Federal Reserve faces a pivotal moment: the transition from Jerome Powell as Fed chair to Kevin Warsh, with Powell opting to remain at the Fed as a governor. Collin Martin and Liz Ann Sonders discuss what Warsh’s confirmation signals for future Fed policy, noting his interest in reshaping how the Fed communicates with markets—potentially scaling back press conferences, reducing the emphasis on dot plots and projections, and encouraging less frequent public commentary from Fed officials.

Then, Collin Martin is joined by Winnie Cisar, global head of strategy at CreditSights. She provides an in‑depth look at the current state of corporate credit markets. Winnie explains how her team blends macroeconomic signals, such as inflation trends, labor market data, and central bank policy, with bottom‑up company analysis to form credit views. Cisar highlights how the structure of credit markets has evolved since the financial crisis, with risk increasingly spread across high-yield bonds, leveraged loans, and private credit. These shifts, along with increased debt issuance from banks, technology firms, and utilities, have contributed to an overall improvement in index‑level credit quality, even as risks have migrated to less transparent parts of the market.

Finally, Collin and Liz Ann look ahead to next week’s upcoming economic indicators and data releases.

On May 1, in honor of National Investing Day, the Schwab coaching team will be hosting a special day of educational events. You can learn more about those at schwab.com/coaching.

On Investing is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the show, visit schwab.com/OnInvesting.

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Performance may be affected by risks associated with non-diversification, including investments in specific countries or sectors. Additional risks may also include, but are not limited to, investments in foreign securities, especially emerging markets, real estate investment trusts (REITs), fixed income, municipal securities including state specific municipal securities, small capitalization securities and commodities. Each individual investor should consider these risks carefully before investing in a particular security or strategy.

Fixed income securities are subject to increased loss of principal during periods of rising interest rates. Fixed income investments are subject to various other risks including changes in credit quality, market valuations, liquidity, prepayments, early redemption, corporate events, tax ramifications, and other factors. Lower rated securities are subject to greater credit risk, default risk, and liquidity risk.

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How Macro Forces Shape Credit Markets (With Winnie Cisar)