Donald Trump Not Seeking Janet Yellen’s Resignation, Economic Adviser Says
An economic adviser to Donald Trump on Wednesday said the president-elect isn’t seeking Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s resignation, despite a swirl of speculation in recent weeks that he might pressure the central bank leader to step down.
“He’s not urging her to resign at all,” Judy Shelton, an economist and senior fellow at the Atlas Network who advises Mr. Trump on monetary policy, told The Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Yellen’s term as chairwoman expires in February, 2018. Ms. Shelton suggested Mr. Trump wouldn’t nominate Ms. Yellen to a second term and instead would name someone else to take the helm. Paraphrasing Mr. Trump’s comments, Ms. Shelton said, “He’s saying he’d want someone whose thinking is more in keeping with his own.”
Fed is nerdy, geeky, and politically neutral: policymaker
A day after Republican Donald Trump was elected as the next U.S. president, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said that the U.S. central bank is nerdy, geeky, but above all apolitical, and will remain so.
"Having that independence is very important," Williams said, adding that criticism of the Fed is part of democracy and is to be expected. "We are focused on the economy, focused on achieving our goals; it is not a partisan activity."
Williams said the Fed did not raise rates as fast as expected because most policymakers over the course of the year changed their estimate of the neutral level of interest rates, and now believe that level is much lower because of factors like an aging population and slow productivity growth.
Oil edges higher as markets recover from Trump's shock victory
Oil prices reversed some early losses to push higher on Thursday as markets recovered from their initial shock at U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's surprise victory, although traders said that crude fundamentals remained weak.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement at $45.42 a barrel at 0626GMT.
WTI was held back somewhat by a 2.4 million barrels rise in U.S. crude inventories to 485 million barrels last week, even though refineries hiked output and imports fell, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $46.70 per barrel, up 34 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close.
Reference: Reuters, Wall Street Journal
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