BlockBeats news: On January 23, U.S. President Trump stated that interviews with candidates for the next Federal Reserve Chair have been completed, and hinted that the final choice will be a "highly respected and extremely well-known" heavyweight figure who will succeed current Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May of this year.
Trump revealed that his final choice is "narrowed down to almost one person," but he has not yet announced the specific name. The current list of public candidates includes Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council; Rick Rieder, head of fixed income at BlackRock; Christopher Waller, a current member of the Federal Reserve; and Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor. Among them, Trump has hinted that Hassett is more likely to remain in his position at the White House.
Notably, after Trump recently publicly praised BlackRock executive Riddle as "impressive," Riddle's chances of being nominated have clearly warmed up. The prediction market Kalshi shows that the probability of Riddle receiving the nomination has risen to 33%, about twice the level at the beginning of this week, and ten days ago the probability was only 3%. Nevertheless, former Federal Reserve Governor Wall still leads with a 45% probability, though his advantage has somewhat narrowed.
The tension between Trump and Powell continues. Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell for being "too slow" in cutting interest rates and downplayed the impact of Powell remaining on the Federal Reserve Board after his chairmanship term ends. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin previously indicated that Trump may announce his final decision next week. Markets generally believe that the choice of the new Federal Reserve Chair will have significant implications for the direction of U.S. monetary policy and global financial markets.