Yellen sannolikt ny Fed chairman

WSJ rapporterar idag att Obama, inte särskilt oväntat, kommer att nominera Janet Yellen till ny Fed chairman imorgon. De mest sannolika nomineringarna till posten har varit Janet Yellen och Lawrence Summers, men redan i september drog Summers tillbaka sin kandidatur. Att Yellen nomineras till ny Fed chairman var därmed inte särskilt otippat. Yellen är känd för att vara en ännu större duva än Bernanke vilket innebär att Feds lösa monetära policy mycket väl kan fortsätta ett bra tag till.

Yellen Is Obama's Choice as Fed Chief

President Barack Obama will nominate Janet Yellen to run the Federal Reserve, calling on the central bank's second in command to become the world's most powerful economic policy maker after months of sometimes bitter debate about Chairman Ben Bernanke's successor.

Ms. Yellen's nomination, which the White House said would be announced Wednesday, would be subject to Senate confirmation amid squabbling between Democrats and Republicans over fiscal issues. The federal government has been partially shut since Oct. 1, after its spending authority expired. The U.S. Treasury estimates that by Oct. 17 it will be low on cash because a federal debt ceiling prevents it from borrowing more.

Ms. Yellen's nomination would mean the Fed is unlikely to make any unusual lurches in its easy-money policies in the near term

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With inflation running below its 2% target, the central bank can afford to keep the nation's credit spigots wide open to encourage economic growth and hiring, she has argued.

"There is the high cost that unemployed workers and their families are paying in this disappointingly slow recovery," she said in a speech in March. "At present I view the balance of risks as still calling for a highly accommodative monetary policy to support a stronger recovery and more-rapid growth in employment."