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Rick Rieder, BlackRock Senior Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, speaking at the Delivering Alpha conference in New York City on Sept. 28, 2023.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
The White House search for the next Federal Reserve chair continues to twist and turn, with BlackRock bond chief Rick Rieder emerging as the latest hot candidate.
Administration sources tell CNBC that the asset management giant’s chief investment officer of global fixed income interviewed Friday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Trump administration’s point man for Jerome Powell’s successor.
“Whoever ends up being the Fed chair, there’s so many innovative things,” Rieder said Tuesday during a CNBC appearance.
The discussion with Rieder centered on monetary policy, as well as structural issues related to the central bank, sources said. Bessent has publicly stated that he wants to see not only new leadership at the Fed, but also fundamental changes in the way it operates.
Along with the Rieder interview, Bessent earlier this week spoke with former Fed Governors Kevin Warsh and Lawrence Lindsey, as well as James Bullard, who had served as president of the St. Louis Fed.
Trump has given little indication about his preference from a list reported to include 11 candidates, including past and present Fed officials, Wall Street strategists and prominent economists. Similar to Powell, Rieder would offer a departure from traditional central bank chiefs having PhDs in economics.
The Fed meets next week, with markets widely expecting the first interest rate cut since December 2024. Trump, though, has demanded larger cuts as he sees higher rates damaging the housing market and raising borrowing costs for the government.
