One of the key decisions President Biden will make later this year is who is going to run the Federal Reserve for the next four years. Current Fed chief Jerome Powell's term as chairman runs out in February 2022. We think the choice will ultimately come down to two people: Roger Ferguson or Jerome Powell.
The case for Roger Ferguson is easy. First, presidents like to appoint people from their own party and Ferguson is a Democrat. Second, Ferguson already has experience at the Fed, having been appointed as a Governor and then Vice-Chairman by President Clinton in the late 1990s and serving through 2006.
Third, Ferguson has both a law degree and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. Fourth, he was the CEO at TIAA-CREF for almost thirteen years after leaving the Fed. And last, he would be the first Fed chief of African descent, which should make him politically attractive to the president. Notably, Ferguson retired from TIAA-CREF in March, which means he's available at a moment's notice.
However, we also think Biden will take a long hard look at re-appointing Powell. The last "dot plot" from the Fed, setting out projections for the future path of monetary policy, showed seven policymakers thinking short-term interest rates will rise in 2022 and a majority (13 of 18) thinking rates will go up by the end of 2023. In fact, the "median dot" shows two rate hikes (25 basis points each) by the end of 2023. And yet, based on our interpretation of his comments after the meeting and since, Powell is likely to be one of the policymakers projecting no rate hikes through 2023.