The Fed chair endgame: Here's what to know

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 00:00.070

the race for fed chair looks to be entering its final phase said this a future or does it because now we're back to four or five again it's four

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 00:09.030

you missed the dropping of the one when you were out

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 00:12.270

no i mean i was reading it this morning that both kevins are back in wallers in and readers i saw that senior economics reporter steve liesman joins us with the details hey

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 00:22.390

steve joe president trump 's extended search for the next fed chair reaching the end game with a flurry of both backroom and public politics and people familiar with the situation the president could name the next fed chair by the first week of january maybe a little bit later

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 00:34.950

after interviewing the last candidate rick reeder in the final week of the year mar a lago one question remains a mystery where does treasury secretary scott besant stand in all of this here's a little bit of the talent a september besson announces the fed chair interview

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 00:49.030

process potential candidates he begins interviews and then he writes an article sharply critical of the fed calling for reform in a way that kevin wash had october tenth CNBC reported that beset now with the short list from eleven down to five candidates november thirtieth trump

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 01:06.110

telling reporters i president trump that is i know who i'm going to pick and everyone thinks it's kevin hassett december second the fed candidate white house interviews appeared to be canceled they were back on december tenth interviews held with walsh and then another interview

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 01:21.630

held with waller they were reported on on friday said it was a strong interview so it's unclear these interviews got back on track there's been pushed back on wall street against tacit as reported by CNBC politico and the financial times that have said that have set in part

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 01:35.910

there's an organized campaign that he was too close to the president but also appears to be organic pushback besant has on his own pushback to defend hassett that criticism could have prompted the administration to put those interviews back on track leading to some volatility

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 01:52.030

you can see in the coffee prediction market those are monthly changes you see on your left there the odds have now steadied with hassett the clear leader people familiar with the situation say treasury secretary scott besant does not want to favor any candidate because he knows

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 02:07.590

it's the president 's choice also knows his predecessor is continually blamed by president trump for the pick of fed chair powell which he didn't like now one person where the president 's thinking told me this is the most powerful man in the world making one of the most

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 02:21.270

important decisions of his administration the committee is not going to decide joe having looked at all of this and talking to i don't know a lot of people over the weekend i can't find beset putting his finger on the scale for any particular candidate what looks like he does he

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 02:36.310

may put his finger on the scale to bring it back to neutral so the president has a choice between all these candidates but i don't see him favoring anyone over another one yet

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 02:45.950

i mean i had heard about that waller story that you've talked about to me it looked totally like like a trial balloon like a market check on what leaking that wallet why would they leak wall waller has a had a strong interview without wanting to make the market think that waller

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 03:03.190

was a candidate that waller was a candidate and see how it reacted or what what the public

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 03:07.550

having been the person who reported that reporting that story who broke that story i don't know that i can understand the motive as much as there were some people who said to me

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 03:15.230

when they when they give that to you don't you ask yourself why are they giving this to me

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 03:20.870

i do

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 03:21.830

and what was your conclusion

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 03:25.430

i don't know i honestly don't know i don't do you know i mean you think it's i think

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 03:28.950

it was i think it was it's i think hassle was getting hammered i'm not really sure it's fair right and i think they want to say look it might not be has it in fact waller just had a really strong what

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 03:39.470

do you think of this guy interested in that joe because

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 03:41.710

following through because he's at wanting to cut fifty so here's another guy who definitely is in the the president's shares the president 's thinking on lower rates let's put him up and see how that looks if we're worried about

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 03:56.230

hazard not looking into putting him up to see how that looks you remember our fed survey that showed eighty four percent think has it's going to

Joe Kernen (Co-Anchor of Squawk Box) 04:03.070

be a way of satisfying wall street concerns about hassett and still getting your fifty basis points immediate cut

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 04:11.550

maybe i mean wallers gonna do look there's a thinking about waller that i think is maybe not appreciated which is that it may be that the administration is beginning to understand the chair himself cannot cut rates they need the committee so who's your best person to have in

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 04:28.230

that job convince the restroom it may be waller in that case and and like i said the vibe we get from people we talk to say they like waller now that that's a thing that's like normal on wall street where we like the guy we know and we like the guy we know in the position that

Steve Liesman (Senior Economics Reporter) 04:43.590

he's already been in in a sense right so that's sort of wall street saying give us something known here