Trump plumps for Jerome Powell as new Fed Chair - report

Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell has been chosen by President Donald Trump as the US central bank's next chairman, according to reports on Wednesday.

Powell was informed by the White House that he is the President's nomination to replace Janet Yellen, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The WSJ report follows a slew of others in recent days that indicated Powell was the front-runner to be the next Fed head when Yellen's term ends in February.

"Nothing is certain with this administration, and the president's fondness for keeping even his closest advisers off-balance is well-documented, but we would now be very surprised if anyone but Mr. Powell were to be nominated," said economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"Of all the apparent candidates, excluding Dr. Yellen, Mr. Powell is the least likely to disrupt the Fed, at least on the monetary policy front."

Powell, who is not an economist but rather a lawyer who moved into investment banking and private equity, served at the Treasury under George Bush Snr and joined the Fed in 2012.

In his five year so far on the Fed board, Powell has never yet cast any dissenting votes.

Powell represents both a compromise choice and continuity at the helm, said Oxford Economics.

"With regard to monetary policy he is likely to continue to lead the Fed along the same dovish path that Yellen has. On the financial regulatory front he is a more open to making moderate rollbacks to regulations."