When a CEO makes the decision to leave their job, most transitions take place over a matter of months. The incoming CEO has some time to learn about all aspects of the company, sit in with the departing CEO on some decision making, and get a front seat view of what the top job is all about.

When digital identity security company Entrust’s 18-year CEO Todd Wilkinson stepped down at the end of March, his successor Tony Ball had been in transition for about a year. Ball, who’s a 10-year veteran of the company himself, told me the lengthy transition helped him to feel more fully prepared to take on the company’s future. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

This is the published version of Forbes’ CEO newsletter, which offers the latest news for today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders and decision makers. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every week.

In its first meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh last week, the Federal Reserve did as expected and unanimously voted to hold interest rates steady at between 3.5% and 3.75%. Nine of the board’s 18 members favored at least one interest rate hike later this year—but Warsh, who has said he wants the Fed’s deliberations to be less public, said he did not make any projections of his own.

The policy statement issued after the meeting shifted toward that end. Under Warsh’s predecessors, it would explain the reasoning behind the decisions made, as well as provide forward guidance about how policymakers expect rates to move. Last week’s statement was much shorter and included no forward guidance. At the post-meeting press conference, Forbes senior contributor Simon Moore writes Warsh said the statement just provides the facts. Warsh also has said he wants to omit the forward guidance because he feels markets should interpret policy based on actual economic data, not Fed projections.

Markets and gold and silver futures dropped following the Fed’s announcement, but the stock market started creeping back up as the week ended. President Donald Trump signed an interim peace deal between the U.S. and Iran on Thursday, causing the markets and gas prices to ease up. Actual negotiations have been tenuous, proceeding over the weekend between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian officials, and mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, in Switzerland. Negotiators said Monday there has been “encouraging progress,” despite disruptions caused by threats against Iran made by Trump in both social media and U.S. media interviews.

But given Iran’s importance in global oil supply and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—which Iran reportedly claimed to close on Saturday—an agreement is important to the global economy. While Wall Street may be quick to respond to diplomatic overtures, experts say that even the most ideal resolution of the conflict will take some time to trickle down........

© Forbes