international
Republican favoured to take over the Fed
Donald Trump will announce his candidate to head the US Federal Reserve (Fed), before he leaves for Asia on Friday, a position now occupied by Janet Yellen, who will end her mandate in early February. Newspapers such as The New York Times suggest that the president will break the tradition of past presidents to renew the head of the central bank and instead name 64 year-old Republican Jerome Powell, who has been on the Fed’s Board of Governors since 2012. Powell was nominated for the Board by Barack Obama and also served under George W. Bush. If Trump names Powell for the position he may keep Wall Street happy, but could have problems in the Senate with the approval of the candidate, as the GOP establishment is more in favour of the conservative John Taylor, who is highly critical of Federal monetary policy and especially the progressive stimuli favoured by Janet Yellin.