Finance Minister Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he would start interviewing with the candidates for the chairman of the Federal Reserve as soon as the White House is suddenly thrown into a crowded field.
In a CNBC interview “Squawk Box”, Bessent confirmed that the race for the current chairman Jerome Powell is between 11 candidates, an array, which includes former and current central bank officials as well as economists, an advisor to the White House and some Wall Street Market experts.
“With regard to the interview process, we announced eleven very strong candidates. I will probably meet with you right after the working day and bring the list to President Trump,” he said. “It's an incredible group.”
This list is assumed that you include the current governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, the President of Dallas, Lorie Logan, the economist of the White House Kevin Hassett and the former governor Kevin Warsh. The strategists Rick Rieder from Blackrock and David Zervos von Jefferies are also part of the group and the economist Marc Sumerlin, the former governor Larry Lindsey and the former president of St. Louis Fed, James Bullard,.
Although Powell's term of office only ends in May 2026, the White House is interested in getting the process in motion, as it urgently needs interest reductions.
Bessent repeated the government's wish for loosening and said he would help the disturbing US residential market. Sales and the new building were weak, with low inventory increasing prices higher.
“If we continue to restrict the home building, what kind of inflation does it create a year or two?” he said. “A large cut here could make a boom or a collection in the home building easier, which lowers prices by a two -year lower road.”
The FED only has another political assembly from 16 to 17 September, which has probably approved its percentage of the first quarter since December 2024.
Before that, Powell will probably be his last keynote address on the annual symposium of the Fed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This speech could concentrate on a review that the central bank carries out every five years of its policy, but Powell can also choose to give the Fed's hand in the September vote.