President Trump is reportedly leaning toward Jerome Powell, a former investment banker and Treasury Department undersecretary who is presently serving on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, as his pick to replace the Obama-nominated Janet Yellen as the new Fed chair when her term expires in February. Both CNN and The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported Trump has "settled" on Powell but "hasn't made a formal decision and could still change his mind."
Powell was nominated to his current post by former President Obama, which could help his Senate confirmation process. He has a good working relationship with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who also hails from Wall Street. Powell would be the first fed governor in years to hold a law degree rather than a Ph.D. in economics, and he is expected to basically maintain the central bank's status quo if selected.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Missionaries using tech to contact Amazon's Indigenous peopleWealthy US-backed evangelical groups are sending drones to reach remote and uncontacted tribes, despite legal prohibitions
-
August 3 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a human data center, Donald Trump's enterprising spirit, and more
-
5 darkly funny cartoons about Israel blocking aid to GazaCartoons Artists take on forcing famine, avoiding aid, and more
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
