Rick Leader, senior managing director of BlackRock and Chief Investment Officer of Global Bonds, spoke at the Alpha Conference held in New York City on September 28, 2023.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
The search for the next Federal Reserve Chair continues a twist, with BlackRock Bond’s chief flick leader emerging as the latest hot candidate.
The chief investment officer of the global bond asset management giant told CNBC, the chief investment officer of the global bond asset management, who interviewed Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent, the Trump administration’s point man for Jerome Powell’s successor on Friday.
“Everyone who ultimately became a Fed chair has so many innovative things,” the leader said Tuesday during a CNBC appearance.
The discussion with Rieder focused on structural issues related to monetary policy and central banks, sources said. Bessent publicly says he wants to see not only new leadership at the Fed but also fundamental changes in the way it operates.
In addition to interviewing the leaders, Bescent spoke earlier this week with former Fed governors Kevin Wahsh and Lawrence Lindsay, as well as James Bullard, who served as president of St. Louis Fed.
Trump has given little indication of his preferences from a list reported to include 11 candidates, including past and present Fed officials, Wall Street strategists and well-known economists. Like Powell, the leader offers a break from the traditional central bank chief with a doctorate in economics.
The Fed will be held next week, and the market is widely hoping for its first interest rate cut since December 2024. But Trump is demanding higher interest rates for higher cuts as he is causing damage to the housing market and increasing government borrowing costs.
