Fed Curbs Trading by Top Officials as Powell Does Damage Control

The Federal Reserve will ban top officials from buying individual stocks and bonds as well as limit active trading after an embarrassing scandal that led two officials to resign and clouded Chair Jerome Powell’s path to renomination.

“These tough new rules raise the bar high in order to assure the public we serve that all of our senior officials maintain a single-minded focus on the public mission of the Federal Reserve,” Powell said in the statement Thursday.

The Fed’s action marks its most significant response yet to recent revelations over trading last year by a few top policy makers ...