Joe Biden wants Janet Yellen as finance minister – E24

If the Senate accepts Biden’s recommendation, Janet Yellen will become the United States’ first female finance minister.

Published:Updated: November 23, 2020 11:23 PM, Published: November 23, 2020 9:20 PM

Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen (74) as finance minister.

It reports The Wall Street Journal Monday night.

CNN and ABC also confirm the newspaper’s information and refer to their own sources.

The news agency Reuters writes that supporters of Biden think he will nominate Yellen. The New York Times also reports that Yellen will probably be the new finance minister in the country.

If the Senate accepts the recommendation, she will become the first female finance minister in the United States.

The future finance minister will have a tough job ahead of him with responsibility for leading the US economy out of the corona crisis.

Keeped the key interest rate at a record low as central bank governor

Yellen was the first female head of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in the period 2014 to 2018.

When Yellen took over as Fed chief after Ben Bernanke in February 2014, his predecessor had kept the key interest rate at a record low of 0.25 percent since the financial crisis in 2008. Under Yellen, the Fed began to raise the key interest rate again and when Yellen resigned four years later, after Trump did not renewed her period, the interest rate was in the range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent.

The Fed’s key policy rate has since risen to the range of 2.25 per cent to 2.50 per cent, before Yelle’s successor Jerome Powell in the summer of 2019 implemented the first interest rate cut in the US in over ten years.

After the corona pandemic occurred, the Fed has cut interest rates to between 0.0 percent and 0.25 percent, and is thus back where Yellen started when she became central bank governor almost seven years ago.

“Safe choice” with probably broad support

The former central bank governor is widely regarded as a “safe” election of finance ministers, who are likely to gain Republican support in the Senate, according to CNBC.

This is partly due to the fact that Yellen is perceived by many as a person who can enter into cross-party compromises, which is extra important in the fragile economic situation the United States is currently in, according to CNBC.

During Yellen’s term as central bank governor, the labor market improved, interest rates were historically low and the stock markets rose to historic highs.

This also makes it probable that investors will welcome Yellen as finance minister, writes CNN.

– Janet (Yellen journ.anm.) Is a big name with heavy and solid experience, especially from his time as head of the central bank, writes Alli McCartney, general manager of the Swiss bank UBS to CNBC.

Following the news, key indices rose on Wall Street and the Dow Jones closed up 1.12 percent. The S&P 500 climbed 0.56 percent.

– I am not surprised that the markets react positively. Given the challenges ahead, such as getting people back to work, avoiding the further spread of the corona virus and a new recession, this is a reassuring election of finance ministers, McCartney told CNBC.

Janet Yellen has so far not wanted to comment on the case.