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BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Reportedly Under Consideration As New Federal Reserve Chair
1. Surprising resignation of Kugler and also surprising nomination of Miran as Fed Governor (he wasn't on any list before). He will have to be re-nominated or replaced in 01/2026.
2. Bessent is running the Fed Chair search and he took himself out.
So, the old pool for media speculation on the next Fed Chair shrunk to Hassett, Waller, Warsh. They have indicated their views on rates (downward, but not -3%) and Fed independence.
IMO#1, Warsh has been the most outspoken among these & he may run into problems in the Senate confirmation. Hassett or Waller may clear the Senate with push from the Administration.
IMO#2, Administration wants to look at wider options before settling on someone that it can back with more confidence. At the end, it could still be Hassett or Waller although Bullard's name makes things more interesting (he was Waller's boss at the St Louis Fed and is now the Business Dean at Purdue U).
Thanks @yogibearbull. I was half-watching BB this afternoon. They were having fun showing Trump saying the search was down to 2 or 3 candidates for “it” (the Fed Chair). Freudian slip. Next, they showed Bessent saying he would be interviewing 10-12 candidates in the coming days.
FWIW - I have trouble taking Rieder seriously. Yet, one wonders why he would allow his good name to be used in this connection if he’s not interested. Can’t do anything for his fund flows. Can it?
I hope this Bloomberg Story / Link works for everyone. I learned from rforno recently that it is possible to gift Bloomberg articles.
Rieder had an interesting interview few days ago on CNBC.
“This is the best investing environment ever.” He did think productivity is high and that you can get good yield at 6.5% range. But he did think valuations are high so he bought portfolio volatility insurance because it was cheap. “The way insurance works, nobody buys hurricane insurance when you’re far from a hurricane, they buy after the hurricane when the price is too high… Today the price of insurance is incredibly cheap, we can hedge our portfolio, complacency is high”
What probably got him on short list for Fed Chair is what he says at 3:00-4:00 minute mark about the Fed Funds rate is 100 basis too high - cost to Government is too steep, doesn’t need to be that high.
Wapner: “If the white House is listening to what you're saying right now. They're all standing up yelling, yes, yes, this is the story we've been trying to tell”.
In the meantime, President wants Goldman to fire their chief economist and think Goldman boss should spend all day DJ’ing instead of running Goldman.
Comments
1. Surprising resignation of Kugler and also surprising nomination of Miran as Fed Governor (he wasn't on any list before). He will have to be re-nominated or replaced in 01/2026.
2. Bessent is running the Fed Chair search and he took himself out.
So, the old pool for media speculation on the next Fed Chair shrunk to Hassett, Waller, Warsh. They have indicated their views on rates (downward, but not -3%) and Fed independence.
IMO#1, Warsh has been the most outspoken among these & he may run into problems in the Senate confirmation. Hassett or Waller may clear the Senate with push from the Administration.
IMO#2, Administration wants to look at wider options before settling on someone that it can back with more confidence. At the end, it could still be Hassett or Waller although Bullard's name makes things more interesting (he was Waller's boss at the St Louis Fed and is now the Business Dean at Purdue U).
FWIW - I have trouble taking Rieder seriously. Yet, one wonders why he would allow his good name to be used in this connection if he’s not interested. Can’t do anything for his fund flows. Can it?
I hope this Bloomberg Story / Link works for everyone. I learned from rforno recently that it is possible to gift Bloomberg articles.
“This is the best investing environment ever.” He did think productivity is high and that you can get good yield at 6.5% range. But he did think valuations are high so he bought portfolio volatility insurance because it was cheap. “The way insurance works, nobody buys hurricane insurance when you’re far from a hurricane, they buy after the hurricane when the price is too high…
Today the price of insurance is incredibly cheap, we can hedge our portfolio, complacency is high”
What probably got him on short list for Fed Chair is what he says at 3:00-4:00 minute mark about the Fed Funds rate is 100 basis too high - cost to Government is too steep, doesn’t need to be that high.
Wapner: “If the white House is listening to what you're saying right now. They're all standing up yelling, yes, yes, this is the story we've been trying to tell”.
In the meantime, President wants Goldman to fire their chief economist and think Goldman boss should spend all day DJ’ing instead of running Goldman.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hXEon0ETphY