ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s call on Wednesday [7-3-19] for the U.S. to manipulate its currency to boost exports is in direct conflict with the long-held view of at least one key scholar: his newest pick for the Federal Reserve board, Judy Shelton. Shelton, who advised Trump’s presidential campaign and is now U.S. executive director for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has spent decades calling for a more stable, predictable dollar value. She wants central banks to do as little as possible to interfere with markets. As part of that, she thinks the Fed should more aggressively reduce the massive portfolio of bonds that it purchased to prop up the economy after the financial crisis. But Trump wants the Fed to buy more bonds to inject additional cash into the economy…Trump said Tuesday [7-2-19] he intends to nominate Shelton and St. Louis Federal Reserve economist Christopher Waller to the Fed board, his latest attempt to assert control over the central bank and pressure it to cut interest rates to spur the economy.”
–Victoria Guida, “Trump tweet puts him at odds with his Fed nominee,” Politico, July 3, 2019 5:05 pm