Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday rejected concerns that Sarah Bloom Raskin would be unable to maintain independence at the Federal Reserve given that her husband led impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump. Raskin, U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee as the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, should be judged on her “impeccable credentials” and not her marriage to Representative Jamie Raskin, who served as the lead Democratic prosecutor for the unsuccessful 2021 impeachment trial, Psaki told reporters.”I think she can stand on her own qualifications, not just because she’s a woman, but because she’s done a lot in her career,” Psaki said. “She has been said by many to be the most qualified person to be nominated to this role, which I think is probably more important than who she’s married to.” Raskin, a former Fed governor and senior Treasury Department official who is strongly backed by progressive Democrats, has become a lightning rod for criticism from business groups and fiscal conservatives for her views on climate change.Psaki told reporters Raskin had pledged her commitment to the independent role of the Federal Reserve and would work with her colleagues to mitigate a range of risks, if confirmed.”Just like any nominee, she should be judged by qualifications,” Psaki said. “Her experience and her impeccable credentials were the determinant in her being nominated for this role, and I think it’s a little questionable for anyone to raise otherwise.”The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week sent an unprecedented letter to lawmakers https://www.reuters.com/business/us-chamber-issues-rare-warning-fed-nominee-raskin-citing-oil-gas-views-2022-01-28 raising concerns about Raskin and her calls for federal regulators to transition financing away from the fossil fuel industry. On Monday, 24 members of the fiscally conservative State Financial Officers Foundation, representing 21 states, urged Biden to withdraw Raskin’s nomination, warning that what they called her “radical banking and economic views” could shut oil and gas companies out of bank loans and send energy costs sharply higher.Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown last week said he met with Raskin and Biden’s nominees for two other Fed jobs, and said there was no question that they were qualified.Administration officials say Raskin’s views on climate change are in line with public comments by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.But the top Republican on the panel, Pat Toomey, has blasted Raskin for what he called “demonstrated hostility” toward the oil and gas sector.The committee, which must approve the Fed nominees before they are considered by the full Senate, will hold a confirmation hearing on Thursday for Raskin and two Black economists nominated for the board, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson. More

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve policymakers say they’ll raise interest rates in March but spoke cautiously on Monday about what might follow, signaling a desire to keep options open in the face of an uncertain outlook for inflation and a pandemic still ongoing. In what sounded like a well-orchestrated chorus, four Fed officials said they felt it was time for the U.S. central bank to begin removing support from an economy that is growing strongly and where inflation is at its highest in four decades. Despite forecasts by Wall Street analysts that five, six or even seven interest-rate hikes will be needed this year, the four resisted laying out the kind of clear policy path that markets have come to expect from recent tightening cycles. “We definitely are poised for a March increase,” San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told Reuters in a brief phone interview. “But after that, I want to see what the data brings us … let’s get through Omicron, let’s look at this and let’s see.””I’d like us to be better positioned,” Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin told CNBC. “Better positioned is somewhere closer to neutral, certainly, than we are now and I think the pace of that just depends on the pace of inflation.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week that he and fellow U.S. central bankers were “of a mind” to raise interest rates at their March 15-16 meeting as they begin to pare back support for the economy.Policymakers are also expected to begin shrinking the central bank’s nearly $9 trillion portfolio later this year, a balance sheet that doubled in size as the Fed purchased Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to shore up markets and nurture the recovery from the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Officials say that the U.S. economy no longer needs the same level of support, and that they need to address the arrival of high inflation as demand outstrips supply. But their outlook for how quickly to remove that accommodation is clouded, because they cannot be sure how inflation will behave. “We know that goods supply chain issues are going to ease in time; that should bring prices down,” Barkin said. But at the same time, “we know there’s pressure on the service side from rising wages,” which will tend to drive prices up. Complicating the picture further, U.S. economic growth could slow at the start of this year – after it expanded last year at the fastest annual pace since 1984 – as fiscal support wanes and a surge in infections caused by the Omicron COVID-19 variant disrupts the labor market. “We are going to need to be thinking very carefully about how things are going, how the economy responds to our first moves,” Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Yahoo Finance. “We are not set on any particular trajectory. The data will tell us what is happening.” Economic reports are mixed. Inflation expectations remained broadly anchored through the end of last year, while some of the most intense price pressures may have begun to ease.But the labor market recovery likely slowed last month. Economists polled by Reuters expect the U.S. payrolls added a median of 153,000 jobs in January, the fewest in a year, and about 10% of those polled think the economy lost jobs over the month.Kansas City Fed President Esther George said the uncertainty caused by the virus makes it difficult for Fed officials to provide the same kind of guidance it has offered in the past. “It is in no one’s interest to try to upset the economy with unexpected adjustments,” George said during an event organized by The Economic Club of Indiana. “I do think the Federal Reserve is going to have to move deliberately in its decisions to begin to withdraw accommodation.” More

A senior Hong Kong official has resigned after attending a karaoke birthday bash in violation of the city’s tough “zero-Covid” guidelines, embarrassing the government of Carrie Lam as it was seeking to burnish its credentials with Beijing. Caspar Tsui, Hong Kong’s home affairs secretary, attended the party alongside 14 other top officials including the police and immigration chiefs as well as pro-Beijing lawmakers in spite of a new Omicron outbreak in the city. Days after news of the party emerged, new lawmakers selected under Beijing’s “patriots-only” overhaul of the political system held their first meeting but some were unable to attend as they were quarantined owing to the festivities. The reforms weeded out almost all pro-democracy opposition candidates from the legislature.Meanwhile, UK prime minister Boris Johnson rejected calls to resign yesterday after Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, published a long-awaited and highly critical report on lockdown-breaching parties across Whitehall.Gray’s report was heavily rewritten before publication, at the request of the Metropolitan Police, excising criticism over the most serious allegations of Covid lockdown-breaching parties. But even in its watered-down form, the report was scathing about “failures of leadership and judgment” in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office. Further reading: Explainer: The five things you need to know about the partygate reportTimeline: Our list of when UK government social gatherings were held during CovidWhat’s your reaction to Caspar Tsui’s resignation? And calls for Boris Johnson to step down? Share your thoughts at [email protected]. Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. — EmilyFive more stories in the news1. US plans sanctions against Putin’s inner circle The US has drawn up sanctions targeting Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and its ties to the west as Washington broadens the list of financial penalties it and European allies will impose if Russia invades Ukraine.More Russia-Ukraine conflict news: Russia launched a blistering attack on the US for “whipping up hysteria” over a potential invasion of Ukraine amid repeated warnings from Washington that Vladimir Putin is preparing to attack.2. Sony buys video game maker Bungie for $3.6bn In a wave of consolidation that has swept the gaming sector this month, the PlayStation owner has acquired the company behind the Halo franchise. The deal comes less than two weeks after Xbox maker Microsoft agreed to buy video game developer Activision Blizzard for $75bn.3. Ex-BNP banker wins £2m payout for gender discrimination In one of the largest awards made by a UK employment tribunal, Stacey Macken is to receive £2m in compensation after BNP paid her significantly less than male colleagues over a four-year tenure at the bank’s London office. 4. Thailand axes planned 15% cryptocurrency tax The south-east Asian nation has scrapped plans to impose a 15 per cent withholding tax on crypto transactions after facing pushback from traders in one of the region’s biggest markets for digital currencies. Related read: Sharp price swings in cryptocurrencies are causing “destabilising” capital flows in emerging markets, a senior IMF official has warned.5. Chinese ski hub buried in debt after Olympics building spree Chongli county, one of the three hubs for the Beijing Winter Olympics, is facing severe financial problems after embarking on a debt-fuelled investment spree to prepare for the Games.Coronavirus digestThe BA. 2 offshoot of the Omicron variant is more infectious and better at evading immune protection provided by vaccines than the original version, according to a Danish study.Almost half of US Covid-19 hospitalisations this winter could have been avoided if it had matched vaccination coverage in leading European countries, an FT analysis has found.Spotify is adding content advisory warnings to podcasts that discuss Covid-19 as the streaming service responds to a backlash against its popular presenter Joe Rogan.Winners are emerging in corporate America’s response to the supply chain crisis following a wave of spending on capacity and support for weaker vendors.Opinion: Covid has revealed the limits of the state in controlling or understanding a powerful force of nature, writes Ruchir Sharma.The days aheadLunar New Year The Hong Kong stock exchange is closed for the lunar new year break. It reopens on Friday. Chinese technology stocks gained in an abridged trading session yesterday.Reserve Bank of Australia The central bank will hold its monthly meeting, where a hawkish tone is expected amid soaring inflation.India Union Budget The country’s Union Budget is set to be announced today, one day after the 2021-2022 Economic Survey was released. (Economic Times) Earnings Alphabet, ExxonMobil, General Motors, Lundin Energy, Starbucks, Tele2, and UPS will report earnings. What else we’re reading Automation exacts a toll in inequality When humans compete with machines, wages go down and jobs go away. But in recent decades, something in this relationship began to break down. GDP growth in the US has slowed and inequality has risen. Rana Foroohar examines why.Air taxis: fantasy or realistic promise? Flying cars made a giant swoop forward in the past year, with a crowd of start-ups raising more than double the amount over the previous decade on the promise of making “urban air mobility” a reality. But will the exuberance evaporate?

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Nestlé’s move to clean up the chocolate trade The food company has plans to triple its cocoa sustainability funding and make direct payouts to African cocoa farmers in a bid to remove child labour from its supply chain. There are at least three key points that the wider — non-chocolate — business world should note, Gillian Tett writes in our Moral Money newsletter. Sign up here.Pakistan start-up looks to break taboos around menstruation Many women in Pakistan remain uninformed about periods. Instead of treating menstruation as a matter of shame, the social media-based project Aurat Raaj is spreading the message that periods are healthcare matter.The paradox that leads professionals into temptation The greater a manager’s sense of professionalism, the more likely they are to accept a gift or bribe, argues Andrew Hill. Worse, high-minded professionals may be more susceptible to unconscious bias towards gift-givers because they are convinced they know how to ignore their blandishments.Fashion Whether outdoor swimming, running or kick-boxing — the FT fashion team share their tried and tested activewear tips for the best cold-weather workout gear.

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