Trump to announce new Federal Reserve chair 'next week'

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said he will name the next chair of the Federal Reserve next week, a choice that could have far-reaching implications for his economic agenda.

"It will be a person who hopefully will do a fantastic job," Mr Trump said in a video posted on Instagram, advertising that he would announce his choice "sometime next week." "I have somebody very specific in mind," the president said. "I think everybody will be very impressed." White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders had earlier in the day confirmed the president's plans without providing detail.

In the running are current Fed chair Janet Yellen, who has kept benchmark interest rates low, fueling Mr Trump's much-vaunted stock-market surge.

But Stanford University economist John Taylor, who is known to favour higher interest rates, is also a possible pick.

That tighter monetary policy has supporters across the Republican party, which has traditionally been concerned about preventing inflation.

Another candidate, Kevin Warsh, is a former Fed governor, a proponent of higher interest rates and a son-in-law of Trump associate Ronald Lauder.

AFP