Donald Trump, most of whose economic policy initiatives have achieved little to nothing, has made one of the most important decisions since his election. The US president has nominated Jay Powell as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve.
A preferable outcome, as the Financial Times has argued, would have been the reappointment of Janet Yellen, who has been Fed chair since 2014 after joining the board of governors in 2010.
Rightly, Ms Yellen has broadly continued the approach of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, of being prepared to use unorthodox means to stimulate the economy. The Fed’s policy of withdrawing that stimulus is more debatable, but at least the move has been gradual thus far. Since he seems to represent continuity of approach, Mr Powell was the second-best choice of the candidates interviewed by Mr Trump.