Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, April 15th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story so far, President Donald Trump said he would move to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if he does not step down from the Board of Governors, quote, on time, unquote, escalating tensions with the central bank.

Trump also said he does not plan to drop a Department of Justice probe into Powell

and reiterated the need to investigate the Federal Reserve's building project.

We have to find out what happened, he told Fox Business, adding that he hopes Kevin

Warsh will be confirmed as the next Fed chair.

The comments follow Powell's March statement that he does not intend to leave his position

on the board until the investigation concludes.

Under the Federal Reserve Act, a president may remove a governor for cause, though that standard

is not clearly defined.

The rhetoric comes as U.S. prosecutors made a surprise visit to the Fed's

Washington headquarters on Tuesday. Three DOJ officials sought access to the construction site,

but were denied entry due to safety and clearance protocols. Bloomberg reported,

Robert Herr, outside counsel for the Fed, objected in a letter, arguing prosecutors were attempting

to bypass established legal channels.

The Justice Department has defended its need for scrutiny.

Also in Washington, the administration is set to begin accepting tariff refund claims starting April 20th,

returning billions collected under levies later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade said the government

remains on track to begin processing certain claims with interest next week. The initial phase is

expected to cover roughly $127 billion of the $166 billion in tariffs invalidated by the

High Court's decision, with U.S. customs and border protection overseeing the process.

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