Jerome Powell was supposed to retire quietly.
The way our colleague Nick Timrose tells it, Powell's life after eight years leading the Fed was supposed to be simple.
Friends will tell you the picture.
Golf, guitar, philanthropy, time with grandkids, maybe a memoir somewhere down the line.
Everybody has their way relief stress, and Powell's is to play the guitar.
Hank Williams ballads.
Less monetary policy, more Hank Williams.
That was the exit plan.
And tomorrow was set to be Powell's last day, as a newly confirmed Fed chair takes the reins.
From people I've talked to, he was genuinely looking forward to it.
He was counting down the days.
But just weeks before that exit.
This is my last press conference as chair, and I will close with a few thoughts.
Powell had an announcement.
He would step down as chair, but in a break from more than 75 years of Fed tradition, he would not leave the Fed.
After my term as chair ends on May 15, I will continue to serve as a governor for a period of time to be determined.
Almost immediately, critics pounced.
This is a violation of all Federal Reserve norms.
If you believe in the independence of the Fed, then Jay Powell himself needs to lead.
But Powell said he saw no other option.