Bessent Believes Trump Will Decide The Next Fed Chair This Month

• “Certainly one of the people that I like,” Trump said about Kevin A. Hassett, his top economic adviser and a contender for the next Fed chair.
• Other contenders for the job include Kevin M. Warsh, a former Fed governor, and Christopher J. Waller, a current governor at the central bank. 
• Donald Trump has been critical of current Federal reserve chair Jerome Powell. 

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said on Thursday that he thinks Trump will decide the next Fed chair in January. 

Earlier, a report from New York Times said that the U.S. President Donald Trump has made up his mind on who will be the next chair of the Federal Reserve. 

“I have in my mind a decision,” he said during an interview to The New York Times. “I haven’t talked about it with anybody.” 

When asked specifically about Kevin A. Hassett, his top economic adviser, Trump said, “I don’t want to say,” but described him as “certainly one of the people that I like”, the report added. 

Other contenders for the job include Kevin M. Warsh, a former Fed governor, and Christopher J. Waller, a current governor at the central bank. 

Donald Trump Critical Of Powell

Donald Trump has been critical of current Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and has been pressuring him to lower interest rates ever since he took office. 

Trump has previously criticized Powell and the Fed board saying that hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost, referring to higher interest costs. He has also repeatedly pointed out that there is no inflation. 

Next Chair Expectations

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the next chair of the Federal Reserve has to immediately cut interest rates and has said that whoever does not cut rates will not be considered for the job.

Trump has said that lowering rates will bolster hiring and the economy. 

U.S. equities edged lower in morning trade on Thursday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) edged lower by 0.05%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) was up 0.56%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell 0.74%. Retail sentiment around QQQ on Stocktwits remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day. 
 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Share

·

Add us on