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Minority homebuilding businesses grew noticeably in the years after the Great Financial Crisis, but their share still lags when compared to the total population of people of color in the U.S., new analysis finds.  The percentage of newly established minority-owned homebuilders more than doubled between pre-crisis 2007 and 2022 from 6% to 14%, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The bureau defines minority-owned if the majority share of equity in the business belongs to "any race and ethnicity combination other than non-Hispanic and white." Research was conducted by the National Association of Home Builders. Much of the growth in businesses came during the five-year period from 2017 to 2022, when the number of new residential building companies surged noticeably from 4,938, which represented 9% of the industry at the time, to 9,965. "Nevertheless, when compared to the overall U.S. population, minority-owned firms continue to be underrepresented," wrote NAHB researchers.Similar growth trends emerged in the remodeling sector, with the number of firms expanding from just 8% of businesses in 2007 to an 18% share by 2022. On a unit-business basis, the total number grew from 7,093 to 22,119. Much of the minority-business expansion also occurred in the five years after 2017, when 11,565 such companies were already established. Despite the rise in business opportunities, though, the growth in homebuilder and remodeling companies still come in significantly below the share of racial minorities currently residing in the U.S., which was approximately 40% in 2022. How government policies could impact minority-owned businessesThe acceleration in the number of new minority-owned construction enterprises between 2017 and 2022 came as housing and lending organizations prioritized policies and initiatives aimed to close the homeownership gap existing between whites and nonwhite ethnic groups. The spike in the number of businesses also occurred under both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.Since the start of his second term, President Trump has made the elimination of programs and agencies supporting what might he deemed "woke policies" a cornerstone of his administration. Federal initiatives aimed to increase minority homeownership or invest in underserved communities have been among many eliminated or revoked. Some private businesses have largely followed suit by curbing efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, including removing associated mission language or reducing community outreach. In March, the president also moved to dismantle through executive order the Minority Business Development Agency, which helped lead to growth of homebuilding firms. Housed within the Department of Commerce, the agency was established in 1969 and was made permanent in 2021 under the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Two months later, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to reverse its actions against MBDA and other programs. The administration has appealed the decision.    

Prolonged funding pressures in US money markets, just as bank reserves held at the Federal Reserve are dwindling, suggest the central bank may be getting closer to ending the unwinding of its massive portfolio of securities. Overnight funding markets, where banks and asset managers borrow and lend to each other on a day-to-day basis, have been volatile since the beginning of September. Ultra-short-term interest rates, which have been steadily rising as the Treasury is rebuilding its cash pile, remain stubbornly elevated even after a benign quarter end. READ MORE: Miran cites 'critical importance' of Fed independenceAs a result, the gap between the Secured Overnight Financing Rate and the effective fed funds rate — the central bank's benchmark rate — is near its widest level since the end of 2024. Meanwhile, bank reserves fell just below $3 trillion, the lowest level since January, according to the latest data.Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last month bank reserve balances are still "abundant" and have yet to reach the minimum level needed to cushion against market disruptions, though he acknowledged they're getting closer. Fed Governor Christopher Waller earlier estimated that level — known as ample — at $2.7 trillion. With market metrics showing that funding costs are getting tighter, market observers say that level is fast approaching. "While this development was not unexpected, it suggests that reserves are close to becoming merely ample – rather than abundant," John Velis, a foreign-exchange and macro strategist at BNY, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. "The current challenge facing the Fed is assessing where that change in the demand curve for liquidity will occur."Fed officials have since 2022 been winding down the central bank's balance sheet — a process known as quantitative tightening — reversing trillions of dollars of asset purchases designed to stimulate the economy after the pandemic struck. Earlier this year, the Fed slowed the pace by reducing the amount of bond holdings it lets roll off every month. The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Sept. 16-17 gathering due Wednesday could show where the central bank stood on the issue after cutting its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point last month. READ MORE: Powell: Fed "strongly" wants mortgages off its balance sheetA flurry of Treasury bill issuance after the government raised the debt ceiling earlier this summer has lured away cash, dragging yields higher across a range of instruments. Interest-rate benchmarks tied to overnight repurchase agreements collateralized by US Treasuries are hovering around the Fed's interest on reserve balances rate, known as IORB, an indication that higher funding costs are here to stay. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan has said using the spread between IORB and the Tri-Party General Collateral Rate (TGCR), a risk-free overnight rate that underpins more than 1 trillion in daily transactions, might provide a cleaner read on liquidity conditions and the state of bank reserves.  In a speech in August, Logan noted that US repo rates were on average about 8 basis points below interest on reserves in recent months, which suggested officials still had room to reduce reserves. However, for the past week TGCR has set above IORB. It fell to 4.13% as of Oct. 6 from 4.16%, New York Fed data show. IORB stood at 4.15%.   Central bank officials appear divided on how much the Fed should tighten its balance sheet. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said at the end of September the Fed should seek to achieve the smallest balance sheet possible, with reserve balances at a level closer to scarce than ample. That's in contrast with Powell, Logan and others who have suggested that the runoff should end once reserves are near ample, likely by the end of this year. "We should hear more about the possibility that reserves are indeed transitioning from abundant to merely ample," Velis said. 

Key insight: Bank regulators typically offer supervisory relief for banks so they can offer credit during temporary hardships like shutdowns and natural disasters. What's at stake: Thousands of government workers and contractors could go without paychecks depending on how long the shutdown lasts.Forward look: It's not clear if the White House will try to withhold backpay from federal workers, affecting those workers' future creditworthiness and banks balance sheets. WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is asking regulators if they will give banks supervisory relief to work through missed payments from furloughed federal workers and contractors — relief regulators had offered in similar situations in the recent past. Many federal workers find themselves without their usual paycheck after the government shut down last week after Democratic lawmakers balked at a GOP-led continuing resolution that doesn't extend expiring health care subsidies. While furloughed workers are, by law, required to receive backpay, a new White House draft memo reportedly argues that those workers aren't guaranteed compensation. The White House has also argued that the shutdown gives them more ability to lay off employees en masse and to cancel contracts, potentially affecting the personal finances of thousands of federal workers and contractors. In the past, bank regulators have encouraged lenders to work with consumers affected by the shutdown. The Federal Reserve, Conference of State Bank Supervisors, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Credit Union Administration and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency during the 2018-2019 federal shutdown urged financial institutions to modify existing loan terms or to extend new credit to borrowers on debts such as mortgages, student loans, car loans, business loans, or credit cards. At that time, regulators told banks that whatever relief efforts they put in place would not be subject to examiner scrutiny, a move meant to give banks the freedom to meet their customers' needs, not unlike the kinds of relief banks and regulators routinely offer in the case of a natural disaster. But this time, with the Trump administration directly targeting federal workers for layoffs, it's not clear if the same flexibility will be offered. In a letter sent to the Fed, FDIC, OCC and CFPB Tuesday and shared with American Banker, Waters asked that the agencies, at minimum, affirm previously-issued guidance encouraging the institutions that they oversee to consider efforts to modify or offer new credit. "Through no fault of their own, hundreds of thousands of Federal workers, servicemembers, and Federal contractors have been adversely impacted and may find it difficult to meet their credit obligations while they are not being paid," Waters said in the letter. "Moreover, any missed payments caused by the government shutdown could have undue, lasting impacts on their reported creditworthiness, making it difficult for them to obtain future credit or increasing their borrowing costs." The effects of a government shutdown on financial institutions are usually negligible. The regulators that oversee banks are mostly self-funded, so examinations, deposit insurance and other key functions continue. "We surely agree that prudent workout arrangements that are consistent with safe-and-sound lending practices are generally in the best interests of the financial institution, the borrower and the economy," Waters said in the letter. "The individuals and families who, through no fault of their own, face financial challenges that strain their ability to meet existing credit obligations depend on flexibility and continued access to affordable financial services and products from the financial institutions you regulate for their basic daily needs." But in places with heavy concentrations of federal workers and contractors — including, but not limited to, the Washington D.C. metro area — borrowers whose income is dependent on the federal government can be significant. For those lenders, their ability to extend credit might be curtailed if regulators don't offer the same kind of relief they have in previous shutdowns. 

OpenAI is making it easier for ChatGPT users to connect with third-party apps within the chatbot to carry out tasks, the company's latest bid to turn its flagship product into a key gateway for digital services. With the new option, unveiled Monday during OpenAI's annual developers event, a ChatGPT user can ask to create a playlist for the weekend and the app will connect with Spotify to make suggestions. Alternatively, a user can look up a three-bedroom home in a specific neighborhood on Zillow, without leaving the ChatGPT app. Other apps, including Figma, Expedia and Booking.com, are also available. The feature, which OpenAI calls "talking to apps," requires users to sign in to the apps the first time. READ MORE: Half of largest housing markets record home price downturns"There's an opportunity for builders to create entirely new applications that are even native to ChatGPT, and of course for services you love to be able to benefit there, too," said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer, in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday. The event caps off a frenzied few weeks for the company. OpenAI completed a secondary share sale that propelled it to become the most valuable startup in the world. It introduced several notable features and products, including a social video app called Sora that quickly rose to the top of Apple Inc.'s App Store. And it announced multiple large infrastructure deals with Nvidia Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and others to support broader adoption of its technology.In a sign of OpenAI's rising influence in the market, a long list of companies, including Figma Inc., Expedia Group Inc. and Booking Holdings Inc., saw their stocks jump on Monday after being mentioned during the developer event. "This is a strange new thing that started happening," OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said in a press briefing when asked about the market moves. "We are trying to figure out how to adjust for this kind of world, but it's weird."READ MORE: Why AI search could cut off your leadsJony Ive, the legendary designer of Apple products, also spoke at Monday's event. Ive and Altman have said they would team up on a new AI hardware project — but details of the closely watched collaboration have been scarce so far. Ive said that his team had come up with about 15 to 20 "really compelling product ideas," but narrowing down which ones to pursue has been a challenge. "It would be easy if we knew there were three good ones," he said. "It's just not like that." OpenAI now has more than 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, Altman said on Monday. The service's rapid growth has helped bolster OpenAI's revenue. In September, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said at a conference that OpenAI was on track to generate $13 billion in revenue this year, up from $4 billion in 2024. Still, the AI developer has remained unprofitable due to billions of dollars in annual computing and research costs, to say nothing of OpenAI's recent spending spree on chips and data centers."Obviously, one day we have to be very profitable and we're confident and patient that we will get there," Altman said. "But right now, we're in a phase of investment and growth."To offset some of that heavy investment, OpenAI, like its peers, is working to appeal to businesses and developers. At Monday's event, OpenAI also released software called AgentKit that is meant to help developers build and roll out so-called AI agents — generally, software that can carry out a series of tasks with little or no input from a human.Altman said a number of companies have already built agents with the tools, including Albertson's, Box Inc. and Canva Inc. "Software used to take years or months to build," he said. "It can take minutes now."On Monday, OpenAI also announced that it would ship smaller voice and image-generation models, optimized for quick results and lower costs. And it said that its foray into open models, where the parameters of the model are freely available, had generated 23 million downloads on the platform Hugging Face. Over the next six months, OpenAI expects ChatGPT to evolve to being more of an operating system where users can access more and new software, according to Nick Turley, who runs the ChatGPT team. "We never meant to build a chatbot when we built ChatGPT," Turley said. "We set out to build a super assistant and we got a little sidetracked."

Bloomberg News Key Insight: Fed Gov. Stephen Miran said central bank independence in setting monetary policy is of "critical importance," highlighting that the central bank's decisions should be insulated from politics.Expert quote: "Monetary policy should be set for the goals that Congress has assigned the Fed — for price stability and full employment — and nothing else." — Fed Gov. Stephan Miran.What's at stake: Since joining the board last month, Miran has urged his fellow central bankers to take a more aggressive approach to cutting interest rates, a goal he shares with President Trump.Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran said Tuesday he believes the central bank should be free from political influence.During a fireside chat at the Managed Funds Association, the recently-confirmed central banker said insulating monetary policy from the short-term political cycle in Washington is of "critical importance." "Monetary policy should be set for the goals that Congress has assigned the Fed, for price stability and full employment and nothing else," Miran said.The comments are notable as Miran, who was confirmed to the Fed board in mid-September, continues to hold an appointment as the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, from which he took a leave of absence while serving on the Fed board. Miran's term as Fed Governor expires in January.Miran brushed off a question about whether there are benefits to the Trump administration having a say in interest rate decisions, emphasizing the importance of avoiding "groupthink.""I think it's critically important not to succumb to groupthink, not to live in an intellectual bubble," he said. "I welcome all views on monetary policy, and I'm happy to hear all views about where policy should be set and why."In recent months, President Donald Trump launched a pressure campaign for the Federal Reserve to slash short-term interest rates, threatening to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell over the central bank's pensive approach to monetary policy.Regarding interest rates, Miran reiterated Tuesday he believes monetary policy is significantly tighter than commonly assumed, which supports a change in course. In a previous speech, Miran floated that the federal funds rate should be near 2% — about half its current level. Miran, one of the chief architects of the Trump administration's tariff policy, warned that restrictive policy could lead to a weakened economy. "I'm not very pessimistic at all about the economy, but I do see some risks lurking there if we don't adjust policy," he said.The Fed official stated his "sanguine" view on monetary policy is "forward-looking" and an emerging green shoot, which is giving confidence that inflation will come down, is disinflation in the housing services space. Specifically, Miran said that market rate inflation is likely to come down, as the data tracking costs lag by months if not years."You go to Zillow and the market rents are not necessarily the rent that people are experiencing on a day-to-day basis, because they don't reset their leases every day," he said. "What that means is that there's a really long lag between when you see market rents change and when measured inflation catches up to market rents."I think there was a big catch-up period by which the increase in market rents happened a few years ago, and it took several years for measured rents to catch up to them," he added.Despite his firm stance that the Federal Reserve should continue lowering short-term interest rates, Miran said easing policy too aggressively could create distortions that would likely show up in the bond market."One of the things that you might expect to see is some sort of penalty from the bond market if long-end bond yields move higher as a result. I think that happened last year," Miran said. "I think that the reaction this year has been very different from the reaction last year. I would actually argue that the bond market behavior last year bore out my argument, and this year, thus far, it is again bearing out my argument."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is tapping Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano to serve as the chief executive officer of the Internal Revenue Service, a new position at an agency that has undergone multiple leadership shakeups this year.Bisignano will continue to lead the SSA while managing day-to-day operations at the IRS. Bessent, who has served as acting IRS Commissioner since August, will continue in the top role at the tax agency."Under his leadership at the SSA, he has already made important and substantial progress, and we are pleased that he will bring this expertise to the IRS as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy, and customer service in order to deliver better outcomes for hardworking Americans," Bessent said in a statement Monday.READ MORE: Why IRS cuts may spare a unit that facilitates mortgagesThe newly created CEO position at the IRS, does not require Senate confirmation, unlike the IRS commissioner job. Seven people have served as IRS commissioner in 2025 alone, according to the agency's website. The most recent Senate-confirmed commissioner was Billy Long, a former member of Congress and ally of President Donald Trump, who left the agency in August after fewer than two months on the job. The move to give Bisignano a second full-time job has become commonplace in Trump's second term. He has given several top officials additional roles as he seeks to quickly fill high-profile positions with loyalists. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Budget Director Russell Vought and US envoy Ric Grenell all hold multiple titles.Bisignano now will oversee two sprawling bureaucracies. The Social Security Administration, which employs more than 50,000 people, is responsible for distributing billions of dollars in benefits each month, including $131 billion in August alone, to more than 70 million people. The IRS adds an additional 74,000 employees to Bisignano's portfolio. He assumes the new CEO role at a crucial time for the agency, as it works with Treasury to implement Trump's new tax law, which created a slew of new tax breaks for the next filing season, including exemptions for tips and overtime income. The tax changes are a large administrative lift for the agency, requiring it to create new tax forms.Before taking over the Social Security Administration in May, Bisignano served as CEO of Fiserv Inc., which provides payment processing and other digital services to the financial institutions.

Recently, Better Home & Finance Holding Company (or simply “Better”) said it executed two agreements that it believes will materially increase its monthly home loan lending volume. To facilitate the expected boost in loan origination, it is increasing its warehouse line capacity via a $75-million dollar stock sale. This will allow it to significantly increase… Read More »Better Mortgage Expects Business to Boom Thanks to Two New Mega Partnerships The post Better Mortgage Expects Business to Boom Thanks to Two New Mega Partnerships appeared first on The Truth About Mortgage.

The parent company of Veterans United Home Loans has started up a new brand, while at the same time retiring an existing one.Mortgage Research Center has multiple trade names, present and past, listed on its Nationwide Multistate Licensing System page, including several forms of Veterans United, the nation's most prolific Veterans Affairs lender.Now, Mortgage Research Center has launched First Residential Independent Mortgage, which will be headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.According to 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, Mortgage Research Center was the nation's 11th largest lender by origination count, doing 62,413 units with a loan amount over $18.6 billion.As a result, the company is sunsetting its Paddio brand. Current Paddio employees are able to transition to roles at First Residential.In 2024, Veterans United originated $19.3 billion of VA-guaranteed mortgages, or 61,182 units. The 2024 HMDA data has Veterans United ranked 11th among all lenders.First Residential Independent will also be hiring additional loan officers. Its product offerings will include conventional and Federal Housing Administration mortgages, as well as down payment assistance loan products.It will be offering a mobile app for both Apple and Android, which will let the borrower track their progress, upload documents and communicate with their loan team."We're building on a strong foundation of purchase expertise and national lending experience," said Ryan Kluttz, director of production, in a press release. "We'll be growing our team and investing in technology that allows us to deliver a seamless, personalized borrower experience that takes the guesswork out of buying or refinancing a home."The Paddio website's "about" page had similar statements, starting with the headline "It's time to reimagine homebuying.""As we continue to grow and invest in an end-to-end lending experience, we wanted a name that clearly reflects our unwavering commitment to homebuyers and their agents," Kluttz said in a statement about the decision to retire Paddo. "The name First Residential Independent Mortgage reflects that focus and the values that guide our work."

Artificial intelligence is no longer a buzzword in mortgage lending — it's rapidly becoming central to how loans are originated. But while some lenders are racing ahead with aggressive AI strategies, others are still inching forward, slowed down by cost, caution or compliance questions.Exclusive new research from National Mortgage News reveals just how uneven that adoption is — and how the choices lenders make today could shape their competitive edge, workforce and regulatory risks for years to come.The NMN Emerging Tech and AI survey was fielded during June and July 2025 among 123 mortgage professionals from bank, credit union and nonbank mortgage originators. All respondents are involved in mortgage loan processes and technology decisions at their organization. Below are some of the findings from the survey. Artificial intelligence: from fad to game-changing solutionNo technology topic in recent history has dominated the public consciousness like artificial intelligence. Mortgage leaders are looking at its potential to completely transform operations especially given that AI has proven able to live up to the hype, with designers rapidly coming up with solutions that improved AI tools capabilities and speed.    "Lenders are able to reach the level of skill they never imagined using AI," said Randy Lightbody, head of mortgage and employment, income and asset verification provider Truework. "They seem to look at it as the next frontier of innovation."Still, the whirlwind pace of AI development has even the most tech-savvy businesses and regulators trying to understand the quirks and potential risks in artificial intelligence as they arrive, meaning there will likely be unanswered questions that some perhaps haven't even considered. How quickly are lenders adopting AI?AI adoption is high, but the pace varies A 59% majority share of lenders have already moved beyond dipping their toes into AI to full-blown steady adoption of the new technology, Arizent's survey data showed. Of that share, 17% said they were adopting it at a rapid and "aggressive" pace. While lenders appear enthusiastic, available capital and resources may hold companies back from fully assessing and then embracing the options available. The ability to adopt AI quickly varied greatly based on company size. More than four-fifths, or 81%, of lenders originating more than 5,000 loans per year reported at least consistent AI adoption. The share shrank to a still-substantial 68% among companies with between 1,000 to 5,000 units produced annually. READ MORE: Why growth in cap markets tech use is up and what it means for LOsBy comparison, less than 30% of lenders with fewer than 1,000 originations were able to take advantage of artificial intelligence at the same speed, but they are not avoiding it altogether either. Almost two-thirds, or 65%, said they were adopting it on a slow and deliberate basis.Current rapid adoption at IMBs and banks also far outpaced the rate seen at credit unions. The share of nonbank lenders quickly expanding their AI offerings came in at 73%, while for banks, the number was 68%. Less than a quarter, or 23%, of credit unions were moving in on AI at a similar pace, but all saw potential uses for it.   Future regulatory outlook holds few concrete answersSome approach AI growth with caution, but others see green light Not everyone is fully onboard with agentic AI.When anything as disruptive as artificial intelligence arrives, eyes turn to regulatory changes that might lie ahead. A new presidential administration in 2025, though, turned the conversation surrounding the federal regulatory outlook on its head, with drastic cuts at the government watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accompanied by an easing of rules or rescissions of past enforcement actions.While the regulatory environment in Washington today contrasts sharply with the series of warnings and rules the CFPB issued during former President Biden's administration, it doesn't mean lenders and the technology providers serving them can throw compliance matters aside. State regulators continue to address some of the issues previously prioritized by the CFPB, including the potential harmful impacts of AI.Even with easing federal oversight, 49% of respondents in Arizent's survey said they were planning to moderately or significantly slow AI implementation given the potential for new regulations – a prescient decision given that California's Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 29, 2025. On the other side of the spectrum though, 40% of survey respondents thought the current environment presented them with an opportunity to accelerate AI adoption.High on the list of concerns are discriminatory practices and biases that many say could be unintentionally perpetuated through artificial intelligence. AI's quick rise has some turning to it without fully understanding how underlying models train the software, according to Matt Rider, former chief innovation officer at Wells Fargo Mortgage and a current industry technology consultant. "Companies are trying to catch up, and in a lot of ways, they're using AI," Rider said. With regulators examining how AI can drive decisions, "you need to worry about bias because it's prevalent, and it's really easy to code it into your models and your apps," he continued. Although they may not be fully on top of every new technology development, lenders appear to be aware of some of the concerns of agentic AI as well. Approximately 77% feel agentic technology presents a moderate risk to operations, with 9% calling it significant. Risk is a trademark of any potentially transformative technology, though, and many leaders are ready to adjust for it,  Lightbody said.Once they understand where AI shines and its limitations, "organizations can create the right controls to build that innovation into a business model without unacceptable risks to their compliance team," Lightbody added. Check out our next release of research findings coming in the next few days, where we take a deep look at how lenders are using their origination systems.

Key Insight: In other challenges involving removals at independent agencies, the Supreme Court has allowed dismissals to stand while litigation is ongoing. However, Cook's case appears to be different, suggesting to some that the court is treading more carefully in its decision-making.Expert Quote: "The court's decision to allow her to continue serving — for now — increases my confidence that it will ultimately rule in her favor on the merits." — Jeremy Kress, University of Michigan Ross School of BusinessWhat's at stake: Market watchers have echoed concerns that removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook before the merits of her litigation are ruled on could cause disarray in financial markets.The Supreme Court's decision to delay ruling on Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's case until early next year is being viewed by some legal experts as a potential positive sign for the central bank's independence.In an order published Oct. 1, the court said the case is "deferred pending oral argument in January 2026." The move came after President Donald Trump, through his legal team, filed an emergency application asking the court to lift restrictions that prevent him from removing Cook while the merits of her actual case proceed.In other recent cases involving the removal of leaders of independent agencies, the Court allowed the dismissals to stand during ongoing litigation. But some legal scholars and market observers say the court's refusal to act quickly in Cook's case may signal it views the Federal Reserve differently and is treading more carefully.As a result of the court's order, Cook retains her voting role on the Federal Open Market Committee, at least for the time being.Jeremy Kress, an associate professor of business law at the University of Michigan, called the order "notable," suggesting it reflects a possible distinction in how the justices view the Fed compared to other agencies.He pointed to recent cases involving the Federal Trade Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, in which the court barred Democratic appointees from continuing to serve while they challenged their removals."Apparently, the court believes the Fed is different," Kress said. "The court's decision to allow her to continue serving — for now — increases my confidence that it will ultimately rule in her favor on the merits."Jane Manners, a law professor at Fordham University, echoed that view, saying the order could be read "as a sign that the court views the Fed as meaningfully different from other independent agencies."Still, Kress urged caution in overinterpreting the court's action."Until the court explains its rationale for why the Fed should be treated differently from the FTC or NLRB, it's impossible to know how much control it thinks the president has over the administrative state," he said. "So Fed independence will remain very much in jeopardy — at least until January."Peter Conti-Brown, associate professor of financial regulation at the University of Pennsylvania, questioned whether the procedural order has a greater meaning, noting that he is "not reading too much into [it]."The January hearing will not be a full review of Cook's legal challenge against the president, but rather will focus on whether to uphold a lower court injunction that has so far blocked her removal. The broader litigation, centered on Trump's attempt to remove Cook over alleged pre-confirmation mortgage fraud, will continue later in district court.But the hearing could give an insight into how the Supreme Court views Cook's case, said Richard Horn, co-founder of Garris Horn LLP."The Court could address whether she is likely to win on the merits, so this different approach than the FTC-related appeal could indicate that SCOTUS may treat the Federal Reserve's 'cause' provision differently," Horn predicted. "I also think it shows that, at the very least, the Court knows it has to tread carefully with the Fed," he added. Some market observers have warned that removing Cook from the board before the case is fully resolved could shake investor confidence and destabilize financial markets.An amicus brief filed Sept. 25 by a group of 18 former federal officials — including former Federal Reserve Chairs Janet Yellen, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, as well as former Treasury secretaries and other prominent officials — urged the court to deny the request for a stay, warning of "unwarranted harm to the economy during the pendency of Governor Cook's legal proceedings."Allowing the government to remove a member of the Board of Governors for the first time in the nation's history, while under the cloud of legal challenge, will erode public confidence in the Fed's independence and threaten the long-term stability of our economy," the brief said.Trump's attorneys, in a separate filing, disputed that argument, noting that markets would not be "spooked by removals for pre-confirmation but not in-office financial misconduct."Meanwhile, the FTC litigation, Slaughter vs. Trump, set to be heard by the Supreme Court in December could have broad implications for Cook's litigation. It may challenge Humphrey's Executor v. United States, the 1935 precedent that limited presidential power to remove officials from independent agencies.Legal experts say they are watching how the court handles Slaughter and whether it strikes down "for cause" protections for all agencies — or leaves a carve-out for the Federal Reserve, citing its unique role in the economy.