Chapter 1: What did President Trump say about the next Fed Chair?
President Trump signals that one candidate for the next Fed chair may be out of the running.
Think about this as a reality TV show like The Apprentice Fed Edition. And so today is just another episode in this drama of who Donald Trump is going to pick for probably the most important personnel job for the rest of his term.
Plus, ads are coming to chat GPT as OpenAI looks for fresh revenue. And Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says you can have a good dinner for $3. Our reporters check that out. It's Friday, January 16th. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal.
Chapter 2: How does the competition for the Fed Chair resemble a reality show?
This is the p.m. edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. The contest for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, what you may recall as the battle between the two Kevins, is far from over. Today, President Trump signaled that he may want to keep National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett in his current job.
Speaking at a health care event at the White House today, Trump addressed Hassett, who was seated in the front row.
You were fantastic on television today. I actually want to keep you where you are, if you want to know the truth. Kevin Hassett is so good. I'm saying, wait a minute. If I move him, these Fed guys, certainly the one we have now, they don't talk much. I would lose you. It's a serious concern to me.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term is up in May. For more on where the contest to succeed him stands, I'm joined now by WSJ Chief Economics Correspondent Nick Timoros. So, Nick, at certain points towards the end of last year, Hassett seemed like maybe the frontrunner. Today we hear from Trump, maybe that's not true anymore.
Where does that leave the other Kevin in the running, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh? And how up in the air is this decision?
Well, think about this as a reality TV show, like The Apprentice Fed Edition. And so today is just another episode in this drama of who Donald Trump is going to pick for probably the most important personnel job for the rest of his term. He's been saying he likes the two Kevins, but today he indicated that he thought maybe Kevin Hassett should stay in the White House.
And so that naturally would lead everybody to think that that it's now the other Kevin, Kevin Warsh, who was a Fed governor 15 years ago, in the poll position. But just as six weeks ago, everybody thought this was a done deal for Kevin Hassett, it's Donald Trump. Things can change. Trump always keeps us guessing, and this is no different.
Are the other candidates still serious contenders? There was Fed Governor Christopher Waller and BlackRock Executive Rick Reeder.
Look, if you've interviewed with Donald Trump for a job and he hasn't picked anybody for the job, even if you're not the frontrunner, you still have a chance because he could change his mind again. So initially, they had suggested this would be an October-November decision. Most recently, the timing has shifted to the next few weeks.
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Chapter 3: What implications does Trump's support for Kevin Hassett have?
that Donald Trump is going to compromise the independence of the Fed. And so now there's much more attention being placed by the Senate that's going to have to confirm the next Fed chair on who this person might be. And so the thinking there would be maybe it'll be easier to get somebody confirmed if they have a little bit more distance and can hold up the idea that they'll be independent.
And how does this jostling over who the Fed chair may be affect perceptions of interest rate decisions?
Well, it doesn't really change too much with either of the two Kevins. Maybe people think Kevin Hassett would be a little bit more likely than Kevin Warsh to push for rate cuts. But most analysts who are watching this think that at least in 2026, both men would try to secure a couple more interest rate cuts since that's what Donald Trump has made so clear that he wants.
The question really then would be about, well, what happens in 2027 and 2028?
That was WSJ Chief Economics Correspondent Nick Timoros. Thanks, Nick.
Thanks for having me.
In other news from the White House today, President Trump will issue a plan next week for letting Americans tap their 401k retirement accounts for a down payment on a home. That's according to Kevin Hassett, who we were just talking about, who was speaking on Fox Business today. It's the latest affordability proposal floated by the White House.
Right now, first-time homebuyers who were under age 59 and a half can take up to $10,000 out of their IRAs without a penalty, though there are different rules for other retirement accounts. It's not clear how Trump's new plan would be different from existing options.
Turning to foreign affairs, President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his efforts to take control of Greenland. He discussed it during that same health care event at the White House this morning.
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Chapter 4: Who are the other candidates in the running for Fed Chair?
federal regulators have determined that Roundup's main chemical ingredient doesn't require a cancer warning. If Bayer wins, it could help lead to the dismissal of thousands of cases against the company, litigation that has cost it billions of dollars. And Mitsubishi has agreed to acquire a U.S. shale gas business for $5.2 billion in the Japanese company's biggest deal ever.
Mitsubishi's CEO said owning U.S. assets was important for Japan's energy security, as supply has been unstable because of geopolitical events in Venezuela, Iran, and Ukraine. And finally, how much does a nutritious dinner cost? According to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, it should only be a few bucks.
Earlier this week, Rollins said on the NewsNation TV network that Americans could actually save money while eating according to the government's new dietary guidelines that emphasize protein.
We've run over a thousand simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing.
Two intrepid journal reporters put this claim to the test and found it was possible to make a $3 dinner, if not necessarily all that delicious. WSJ reporter Jared Midovich is joining me now from Boston. So, Jared, how did you and your colleague Rachel Wolf go about starting to address this question?
Yeah, so the first thing we did was think about what is the agriculture secretary telling us to purchase. We also wanted to make sure we were consulting the agriculture department's dietary guidance. Rachel and I decided to hit the two grocery stores we could find closest by. We both tried to find boneless chicken breasts for as cheap as we could. I got Purdue. We both found flour tortillas.
We couldn't find corn in either of our stores. And then we found broccoli.
And what was your one other thing?
My one other thing was Vermont cheddar cheese. Tried to stick with New England flavors. The department does advise us to have dairy with our meal. We were trying to make sure we hit all the groups, right? Vegetables, protein, dairy, and grains. So the ingredients that I purchased to put this $3 meal together ended up totaling me $26.
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