Trump ramps up search for Fed chair as decision due in weeks

washington — Donald Trump in the next few weeks will make one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency with the choice of a nominee to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, and the selection process is accelerating as he meets with top contenders.

The president and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sat down on Thursday with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and interviewed Fed Governor Jerome Powell on Wednesday, three administration officials said. He’s also met current Fed Chair Janet Yellen and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, who are both in the running for the post, the officials said.

Conversations with additional candidates are already in the works as Trump aides try to give him a range of options, said one of the officials, who didn’t identify those contenders.

“I’ve had four meetings for Fed chairman, and I’ll be making a decision over the next two or three weeks,” Trump told reporters on Friday before boarding the presidential helicopter at the White House as he traveled to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey for the weekend.

The selection is one of the most important facing Trump, who claims credit for an economy that’s reduced unemployment to the lowest level in 16 years. The Fed is tasked with safeguarding US growth and stable prices and overseeing financial stability.

News of Warsh’s White House visit, whether an inadvertent leak or a deliberate trial balloon to test market and political reaction, sent bank stocks higher and lifted Treasury yields. Investors weighed a potential Fed pick who might aggressively promote the administration’s agenda to reduce financial regulation and raise interest rates faster. “In terms of policy, I think it is fair to say that Warsh is less dovish than Yellen,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities in New York.

Warsh, 47, who served as Fed governor from 2006 until 2011, didn’t respond to a request for comment through the Hoover Institution, where he is currently a fellow. The Fed declined to comment on any of the meetings.

Others previously identified by administration officials as potential contenders for Fed chair include Stanford economist John Taylor, former BB&T Corp CEO John Allison and Columbia University economist Glenn Hubbard. Yellen’s term as Fed chair term ends on February 3, 2018, and time is getting tight to make a selection and get it through Congress. — Bloomberg