FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington Thomson Reuters ATLANTA (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday said he has not received any direct communication from the White House about his job performance, and that he would not resign even if President Donald Trump asked him to do so.

Trump, who picked Powell to head the Fed starting last February, has been intensely and publicly critical of Powell's Fed and Powell personally, accusing him of hurting the economy by raising rates. Powell said he has no meeting scheduled with Trump.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider, writing by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)