(Jan 20): US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump could announce his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair as soon as next week, amid intense anticipation over the White House’s search for a new central-bank chief.
“We have four fantastic candidates — it will be up to the president, and I would imagine that he will have an announcement maybe as early as next week,” Bessent said in remarks at a press conference Tuesday at Davos, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.
The process of picking a successor to current chair Jerome Powell is seen as a four-person race, with BlackRock Inc’s Rick Rieder, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, Fed governor Christopher Waller and former governor Kevin Warsh as the final contenders after a long-search that has been led by Bessent.
But the dynamics of the contest appear to have shifted in recent weeks. Hassett was once seen as the frontrunner but Trump last week expressed reluctance at nominating him, expressing worry that it would deprive the administration of one of its most powerful messengers on the economy.
“I actually want to keep you where you are, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told Hassett during a White House event. It was not clear if those remarks signaled a shift in the internal deliberations, however, or an offhand remark by the president.
The decision to subpoena the Fed in a probe into its handling of a renovation and comments made by Powell to Congress about the work also injected uncertainty into the process. That move sparked a backlash in Washington, including from Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, and has threatened to oppose any Fed nomination until that case is resolved.
See also: Dollar faces pressure from Trump’s fresh tariff threat to Europe
Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, has gained momentum, according to some people familiar with the matter, who say he is viewed as potentially easier to confirm.
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