President Biden to nominate Jerome Powell for second term as Federal Reserve Chair

President Joe Biden plans to renominate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second term at the helm of the U.S. central bank. The move amounts to an endorsement of Powell's stewardship of the economy through a brutal pandemic recession, with monetary policy seen as having helped revitalize the job market and push the stock market to record highs.

Biden also said he would nominate Lael Brainard, the lone Democrat on the Fed's governing body, as vice chair. Brainard was the preferred alternative to Powell among many progressives.

Stock markets rose on the announcement, which largely preserves the status quo. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 10:00 a.m. Eastern time; the Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.8%.