Azernews.Az

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated during a press conference on Tuesday in Davos that US President Donald Trump might reveal his choice for the next Federal Reserve chair as early as next week, Azernews reports.

"We have four fantastic candidates — it will be up to the president, and I would imagine that he will have an announcement maybe as early as next week," Bessent added.

In an interview with CNBC moments later, the US Treasury secretary repeated that the Fed was losing $100 billion yearly with no accountability, because of mis-timed asset buys. He added that several Fed officials faced ethical issues under Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and that the incumbent central bank head attending Fed Governor Lisa Cook's Supreme Court oral arguments was "a mistake."

Bessent did not name the four finalists, though previous comments have indicated a field of five that included National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, current Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman and BlackRock’s chief fixed income strategist, Rick Rieder.

Prediction markets have honed in on Hassett, Warsh and Waller, though White House officials have said Rieder also met with Trump, and he has gotten more interest. Recently, Warsh has become the front-runner on Kalshi, with Rieder and Waller trailing, following comments from Trump that he’d prefer Hassett stay in his current role.

Bessent has run the screening process but did not indicate a personal preference.

White House officials including Trump and the Treasury secretary have regularly criticized Powell both for his stewardship of monetary policy and setting of interest rates, as well as the way he has run the institution in general. Recent developments have seen the Justice Department subpoena Powell relating to the renovation project at Fed headquarters.