Instant view: Trump picks Stephen Miran to fill open spot on Fed board
Here are some investor comments about the impact to markets:
JOHN VELIS, AMERICAS MACRO STRATEGIST, BNY, NEW YORK:
"A bit of surprise to nominate Miran – he wasn't mentioned as a likely candidate by markets, although he is likely to be a reliable dove, given his current political position (as Chair of CEA) and his public comments to date.
"This is a recess appointment, so it does not need Senate confirmation. As far as I understand about recess appointments, they remain valid until the next session of the Senate is complete.
"This still doesn't remove the current chatter about Christoher Waller being named Fed Chair to replace Powell."
JAY HATFIELD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INFRASTRUCTURE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK:
"Miran is somewhat unconventional for this job because he was head of the Council of Economic Advisors and has made some controversial or hard to justify comments about forcing people to buy Treasuries, which doesn't make any sense. But I don't think this is going to be relevant to serving on the Fed board."
"It's an insider, someone who's willing to take one for the team because it's not that great of a position to be the...governor for a short period of time. It's a fairly practical decision because you can't recruit someone from the private sector for such a short period."
The main focus is on the Fed chair appointment, but he believes Miran will put more pressure on Powell to lower rates.
MARC CHANDLER, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BANNOCKBURN GLOBAL FOREX, NEW YORK:
"I don't think it really matters much because people like me have more or less decided that the Federal Reserve is most likely going to cut rates in September and probably at least one more cut before the end of the year."
"At the end of the day does it really influence our outlook for the Federal Reserve? I'd say probably not."
"Is he qualified? I'd say, yes... he is an economic advisor to the President. He obviously understands the markets. Broadly speaking, we should welcome the view that the Federal Reserve is not going to be picked from a very small inner circle of people."
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