Summary:

• Trump said to be leaning towards Powell as next Fed chair
• Yesterday reports claimed Yellen was out of the race
• Spike higher in Gold and stocks whilst the USD has dropped back

The race for the next Fed chair is hotting up with reports doing the rounds that Trump is leaning towards nominating Jerome Powell. The reports are still hearsay for now but there impact is moving the market with a notable reaction seen in Gold and several USD pairs in recent trade. 

 Gold has spike higher following the reports that Powell is closing in on being named the next Fed chair. Source: xStation

 As a gauge of how sensitive the market is to these rumours, you can see that the moves off the back of them were far bigger than that seen following the US GDP release earlier on. 

 The USDJPY has fallen back after earlier coming close to a prior resistance level around 114.50. Source: xStation

It’s not just the gold market that has been moved by the reports with the Tnote also moving higher whilst the US500 has spiked up to trade at its highest level of the day. Powell is seen as closer to Yellen in terms of his stance on monetary policy and his nomination would rule out Taylor who is seen by many to be far more hawkish.