Meanwhile, demand for risk assets remains fairly resilient even though the question of a Fed rate hike by year-end has not gone away. Kevin Warsh has tasked five working groups — which include a Nobel laureate, a former Bank of England chief and the founder of Andreessen Horowitz — with reviewing the very architecture of decision-making at the Federal Reserve. Yesterday, the Fed chair announced the leaders of those groups, who will study key aspects of how the central bank makes policy with an eye toward potentially broad changes.

The list is notable for its diversity and weight. Group leaders include former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who steered the UK regulator through the 2008–09 crisis; former president of Brazil's central bank Arminio Fraga, known for defending central?bank independence; and former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, famed for his early warnings ahead of the global financial crisis. Also on the list are Harvard economist Karen Dynan and former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Of particular note are Stanford professor Charles Jones and Marc Andreessen, co?founder of Andreessen Horowitz, who joined the productivity and employment group.

Each of the five groups has a specific remit. The first will examine the Fed's communications strategy; the second — which includes former Fed governor Jeremy Stein — will review the $6.7 trillion balance sheet; the third will focus on the data sources used; the fourth will study productivity and the labor market; and the fifth will rethink the framework for inflation targeting.

The initiative logically continues the agenda which Kevin Warsh set out before taking office. He became Fed chair in May and has pushed for a change in the central bank's operating regime and a shake?up in policy approaches. The charge to the working groups preserves that rhetoric. "Each working group will carefully consider whether the tools and methods, analytical instruments and policy approaches of the regulators can be improved," Warsh said Thursday. The goal, he added, is simple: to ensure the Fed is as ready as possible to meet its goals at this consequential moment.

The groups are to deliver their findings by year-end, and the Fed's own staff will support the external experts.

There was, unsurprisingly, no immediate reaction in currency or stock markets to the appointments, but once more tangible proposals and changes appear, traders could respond quite strongly.