It would also make sense to anyone tracing the arc of Powell’s leadership. Biden would re-establish a precedent, broken by President Donald Trump, of reappointing Fed chiefs first chosen by a president from another party. Biden also nominated Lael Brainard as vice chair, the No. US President Joe Biden, right, speaks as he announces that he is nominating Jerome Powell, left, for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair on Monday, Novenmber 22. The economy is recovering and stocks are near all-time highs. Most Democrats and Republicans think he has done a good job in tough times. Betting markets assign it an 85 per cent probability. Still, most Fed watchers expect Powell to get a second term. Lael Brainard, the lone Fed governor who has consistently opposed moves to, for instance, soften lenders’ leverage limits, is their favoured candidate. Progressives within the Democratic Party accuse Powell of slowly dismantling rules intended to make the financial system safer, and would prefer a chairperson who is tougher on banks.
Biden is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will renew Powell’s term or nominate a replacement, giving markets time to brace for the change, if there is one. His four-year term as chairman ends in February 2022. These days much of the conversation about Powell focuses on whether US President Joe Biden will reappoint him. * 'My biggest threat': Donald Trump escalates his attacks on the Fed * Markets are 'fighting the Fed again', and will probably lose * Joe Biden’s stimulus is a high-stakes gamble for America and the world * Covid-19: Uneven vaccination rates globally are creating a new economic divide To his critics, however, he is steering it into danger. To his supporters–of whom there are many–he saved America from an economic catastrophe. And in the process, he has presided over a bold gamble, keeping policy ultra-loose even as inflation soars. He has led a landmark shift in the way it thinks about interest rates. Powell has refined the way the Fed communicates, targeting his messages at ordinary Americans rather than economists. The Fed has bought more than US$4 trillion in assets during the pandemic (equivalent to 18 per cent of GDP), dwarfing the scale of its actions after the global financial crisis, and swelling its total balance-sheet to US$8.3 trillion. Powell has overseen a giant monetary response to the Covid-induced slowdown. The simple wording belies a remarkable evolution in Fed policy and practice on his watch. President Joe Biden announced Monday, November 22 that he's nominating Jerome Powell for a second term, endorsing Powell's stewardship of the economy through a pandemic recession in which the Fed's ultra-low rate policies helped bolster confidence and revitalise the job market. US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.