Waller Reportedly Emerges As Frontrunner In Trump’s Hunt To Replace Powell As Fed Chair

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is apparently the frontrunner in President Donald Trump’s hunt for the next candidate to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Trump and his team of advisers are reportedly impressed with Waller’s willingness to implement policy based on forecasting, rather than current data, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

They also said that his in-depth knowledge about how the Federal systems work is also a plus point. The report added that while Waller has already met with Trump’s team for the potential job, he is yet to meet the President.

Former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett are also in the running, the report added. Statistics on prediction market Kalshi showed that 49% of traders have voted that Waller is likely to become the next Fed Chair, while 30% have bet on Hassett, and 24% bet on Warsh.

“President Trump will continue to nominate the most competent and experienced individuals,” White House Spokesman Kush Desai told Bloomberg in a statement. “Unless it comes from President Trump himself, however, any discussion about personnel decisions should be regarded as pure speculation.”

Meanwhile, U.S. markets were mixed in morning trade. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) rose 0.10%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) dropped 0.32%. The Invesco QQQ Series 1 Trust (QQQ), which tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, was up 0.56%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF remained in ‘neutral’ territory. However, retail sentiment around QQQ improved to ‘bullish’ territory from ‘neutral’ a day ago.

Read also: Trump Pushes For Intel CEO Resignation, Says He’s ‘Highly Conflicted’

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