President Donald Trump’s aggressive steps to reshape the Federal Reserve could play out dramatically at this week’s Fed policy meeting, marking an extraordinary moment of political tension at an institution designed to operate independently from White House influence.

While financial markets fully expect a quarter-point interest-rate cut at the conclusion of the central bank’s two-day meeting on Wednesday, the gathering will be fundamentally different from those in the immediate past, as the Fed navigates unprecedented pressure from the White House, Congress and the courts that could shape the future of the central bank.

“The meeting is happening in this political maelstrom,” said Mark Spindel, an investment manager who co-wrote a history of Fed independence. “We’ve never seen that befor

See Full Page