Trump Considers BlackRock’s CIO Rick Rieder for Fed Chair Role

New names have emerged as candidates to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell once his tenure ends. This includes BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for global fixed income, Rick Rieder, who has already voiced his support for a rate cut.

Rick Rieder Joins List Of Candidates To Replace Fed Chair Powell

According to a CNBC report, the BlackRock CIO is one of the 11 candidates that the Trump administration is considering to replace Powell when his term expires in May next year. Rieder is among the three names that have joined the list, with the others being Jefferies Chief Market Strategist David Zervos and former Fed Governor Larry Lindsey.

These three join Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, Fed Governor Chris Waller, and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, who CNBC has confirmed to be on the list for the Fed chair role.

The other candidates include Marc Summerlin, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, and former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has already confirmed that “Two Kevins,” in reference to Kevin Warsh and Kevin Hassett, are also on the list.

The report revealed that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will interview all of the candidates for the Fed chair role. He will then create a shortlist and pass it on to President Trump for a final decision.

Notably, some of these candidates have voiced their support for a Fed rate cut, which Trump has been pushing for. Waller and Bowman, as current FOMC members, voted for a cut at the July FOMC meeting. Meanwhile, Rieder had called for a cut ahead of the meeting.

Given how long the deliberation process could take, Trump isn’t expected to announce a new Fed Chair anytime soon. This negates the possibility of a Shadow Fed. However, the president has continued his criticism of Powell and recently revealed that he was considering a lawsuit against Powell.

Chris Waller Still Favorite For Position

Polymarket data shows that Chris Waller is still the favorite for the Fed chair role. There is currently a 27.5% chance that Trump will announce him to succeed Powell. This aligns with CoinGape’s report that the Trump team is favoring Waller for the position.

The team, which consists of Bessent, is reportedly impressed with Waller’s willingness to make monetary policies based on forecasts rather than current data. This is contrary to Powell’s wait-and-see approach on incoming data to determine whether to cut rates.

Meanwhile, there is a 10.8% and 10.7% chance that the president will pick Kevin Warsh or Kevin Hassett, respectively. However, the odds are still in favor of Trump delaying the announcement of the next Fed chair until next year, with a 36% chance that no announcement will happen by December 31.