Trump's statement "very impressive" has significantly increased the probability of Jerome Powell being appointed as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

With the public praise from President Trump of the United States, Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income at BlackRock, has seen a significant increase in expectations for his nomination as Federal Reserve Chairman. Trump stated in an interview on Wednesday that he was "very impressed" with Rieder after meeting with him recently. As the current Fed Chairman Powell's term is set to expire in May this year, Rieder has entered the final list of candidates to succeed him as Fed Chairman. During his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump also revealed that the selection process is nearing completion and that the initial list of up to 11 candidates is now "likely down to one person." This statement quickly prompted market reactions. Traders on the prediction market Kalshi have raised the probability of Rieder's nomination to 33%, nearly doubling from earlier in the week. Rieder himself has not commented on this. Currently, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh is still leading with a probability of about 45%, but this number has dropped by about 14 percentage points since Monday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson, who is responsible for the candidate selection process, previously stated that Trump is expected to announce his final decision next week.