Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell would likely face the least opposition to confirmation in the Senate, according to interviews with nearly a dozen members of the Banking Committee. | Andrew Harnik/AP Trump leaning toward Powell for Fed chair, officials say Powell has been heavily favored by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is leading the search.

Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell is the leading candidate to become the chair of the U.S. central bank after President Donald Trump concluded a series of meetings with five finalists Thursday, three administration officials said.

The officials cautioned that Trump, who met with current Chair Janet Yellen for about half an hour on Thursday, has not made a final decision.


Powell, known as Jay, has been heavily favored by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is leading the Fed chair search for Trump.

Other finalists include former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, Stanford economist John Taylor and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.

"They’re all at the same level of consideration at this time. The president said himself on Tuesday, he likes all of the candidates and has great respect for them all," White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom said.

Of the five finalists, Powell would likely face the least opposition to confirmation in the Senate, according to interviews with nearly a dozen members of the Banking Committee.

That is not to say he is the most popular choice among all the senators, but he has the benefit of being a Republican with private sector experience — a pull for GOP lawmakers — and a current member of the Fed board who has voted with Yellen on monetary policy decisions and post-crisis financial rules, a point in his favor with Democrats.

While the overwhelming view among Republican and Democratic lawmakers is that they are keeping an open mind to all of the candidates, the others have drawbacks with one party or the other that Powell lacks.

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Some Republicans are opposed to Yellen’s renomination because of her strong support of post-crisis financial rules and because she has moved only gradually to pull back the Fed’s stimulus of the economy.

Warsh has faced backlash from the left for being particularly concerned with the prospects for inflation heading into the financial crisis, and both he and Taylor are seen as monetary policy hawks, who might raise rates faster — at the expense of new jobs for those still on the sidelines of the workforce, Democrats worry.

And Cohn is a former Goldman Sachs president who is tied to the administration’s efforts to ease financial regulations.

Warsh and Taylor are likely to be popular among Republicans, and Yellen is favored by most if not all Democrats, and it’s realistic that any or all of them could garner at least 51 votes. But Powell alone among the five candidates faced practically no criticism among lawmakers of both parties interviewed. So, if Trump wants a candidate who’s likely to glide toward confirmation, it would be Powell.

The markets would likely react calmly to a nominee who would be see as keeping a predictable course for the Fed.