President Donald Trump hinted for the first time that he’s open to keeping Janet Yellen at the helm of the Federal Reserve.
For markets trying to predict the future of monetary policy, that’s a change of heart that suggests continuity during an era of disruption in Washington.
“I do like a low-interest rate policy, I must be honest with you,” Trump said, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday. Of Yellen, he said “I like her, I respect her,” though “it’s very early.”
Those comments mark a reversal in Trump’s position on the campaign trail, when he said he would replace the 70-year-old Fed chair and called her “political” for keeping rates low. Yellen’s term as leader expires in February, so the president has several months to make up his mind. Still, his openness to the status quo suggests that if he nominates someone else, it could be