Will new Fed leaders solve Yellen's mystery of the missing inflation?

Washington

FEDERAL Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's inflation strategy may have a shelf life of about four months. After that, a gang of newcomers might have to decide what to do next.

Given such unknowns, central bank transitions are risky for investors. That's one reason US presidents have a long history of reappointing Fed chiefs.

By early 2018, as many as three new governors and a vice-chairman will have the power to decide whether they maintain Ms Yellen's strategy of gradually hiking into an inflation "mystery," as she calls it. Her four-year term as chair ends in February, and an extension isn't guaranteed.

"They will have to decide how much weight they put on this view that the Fed has" of inflation bei…