President Trump says he knows who he will appoint to lead the Federal Reserve. He’s not revealing it quite yet.
“I know who I’m going to pick, yeah,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One late Sunday.
Mr. Trump is eager to name a successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who angered the president by taking a cautious approach to reducing interest rates this year.
Mr. Powell’s term ends in May, so Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent conducted interviews this year to whittle down the list so Mr. Trump could select a replacement.
Administration officials previously said the candidates to replace Mr. Powell are current Fed Board members Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and BlackRock Inc. Executive Rick Rieder.
Asked if he had settled on Mr. Hassett, Mr. Trump offered a big smile.
“I’m not telling you, we’ll be announcing it,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Hassett told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that if Mr. Trump picked him, he would “be happy to serve.”
“President Trump has a whole bunch of great candidates, and I think any one of them would be a big trade-up from where we are,” Mr. Hassett said Sunday.
After Mr. Trump makes his pick, the Fed nominee must appear before the Senate Banking Committee and be confirmed by the full Senate.
The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee cut interest rates at its last two meetings but is split on whether to cut again at its December session.
Central bankers are caught between stubborn inflation, which argues against a cut, and a desire to slash rates to boost sluggish hiring.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000 in September, beating Wall Street estimates of 50,000. However, the long-term employment picture has been poor, and the government has not reported more up-to-date numbers due to the recent federal shutdown.
CME Fedwatch on Monday put the probability of another rate cut in December at 87.4%.
The stock market has been on an up-and-down ride of late, given the mixed fortunes of leading tech stocks. Investors respond favorably to any hint of another rate cut.
Mr. Trump says Mr. Powell and others at the Fed have been too cautious and too late in cutting rates. He wants them to act more aggressively to give borrowers better terms and juice the economy.
“He’s got some real mental problems. There’s something wrong with him. It’s just ridiculous,” Mr. Trump recently said of Mr. Powell in front of Saudi guests. “I’ll be honest, I’d love to fire his ass.”
Mr. Trump says he got bad advice when he appointed Mr. Powell during his first term in 2017. President Biden gave Mr. Powell a second term as Fed chair.
