鮑威爾領(lǐng)銜美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席選拔“真人秀”

Donald Trump is preparing an announcement on the next Federal Reserve chair this week with governor Jay Powell said by administration officials to be the leading candidate in what remains an unpredictable process.

唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)準(zhǔn)備在本周就下一任美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)(Federal Reserve)主席人選作出宣布，政府官員們稱(chēng)，在這一難以預(yù)料的甄選過(guò)程中，美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)理事杰伊•鮑威爾(Jay Powell)是領(lǐng)先人選。

The US president teased the decision on Instagram on Friday, claiming that Americans were “anxiously” awaiting his announcement and that everybody would be “very impressed” with the nominee. “It will be a person who hopefully will do a fantastic job,” he said, speaking directly into the camera from the White House.

美國(guó)總統(tǒng)上周五在Instagram上拿這項(xiàng)決定開(kāi)玩笑，稱(chēng)美國(guó)民眾正“焦急地”等待他的宣布，而且人人都會(huì)對(duì)這位被提名者“印象深刻”。“這將是個(gè)有希望干一番大事的人，”特朗普在白宮直接對(duì)攝像機(jī)說(shuō)。

Mr Trump has been deliberating between Mr Powell, the continuity candidate for the job alongside current chair Janet Yellen, and John Taylor, a Stanford economist who could radically shake up monetary policy. Mr Powell, who has served at the central bank since 2012, is a centrist who has strongly supported Ms Yellen’s cautious approach to interest rate rises as well as the gradual reduction of its $4.5tn asset holdings which began this month.

特朗普一直在鮑威爾、美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)現(xiàn)任主席珍妮特•耶倫(Janet Yellen，她與鮑威爾同屬沿襲現(xiàn)有路線的人選)、以及可能從根本上改變貨幣政策的斯坦福大學(xué)(Stanford)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家約翰•泰勒(John Taylor)中考慮下任美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席的人選。自2012年以來(lái)任職于美國(guó)央行的鮑威爾屬于中間派，他一直大力支持耶倫對(duì)于加息及從本月開(kāi)始逐步削減美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)持有的4.5萬(wàn)億美元資產(chǎn)的謹(jǐn)慎態(tài)度。

If he wins the job, which is subject to Senate confirmation, Mr Powell is likely to be welcomed by financial markets which have soared in the easy-money environment fostered by the Fed since the crisis.

如果鮑威爾獲得任命(需參議院確認(rèn))，可能會(huì)受到金融市場(chǎng)的歡迎。金融危機(jī)以來(lái)，在美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)培育的銀根放松的環(huán)境下，金融市場(chǎng)一路飆升。

On the other hand, Mr Taylor, a prominent US economist who authored a key policy rule for setting rates, has been consistently hawkish on monetary policy and critical of the Fed’s stimulus programmes, which would make investors more wary.

另一方面，泰勒是一位杰出的美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，曾寫(xiě)下設(shè)定利率的一個(gè)關(guān)鍵政策規(guī)則，他一直在貨幣政策上持鷹派觀點(diǎn)并批評(píng)美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)的刺激方案，這種態(tài)度會(huì)引起投資者更大的戒備心。

As with the decisions over the composition of his cabinet and the Supreme Court, Mr Trump has drawn on his reality-television roots as he turns the race to be Fed chair into a public spectacle. The lead-up to the decision on the Fed’s leadership has been like no other, as different candidates’ prospects have waxed and waned in media predictions and administration insiders have stoked up speculation.

與其有關(guān)內(nèi)閣和最高法院組成的決定一樣，特朗普利用他真人秀的根基，將美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席的選拔變成了一場(chǎng)公開(kāi)表演。美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席任命的前奏很是與眾不同，不同候選人的前景在媒體的預(yù)測(cè)中起起伏伏，政府內(nèi)部人士也大加炒作。

The president has appeared to relish the drama: this month he stunned some lawmakers by reportedly taking a straw poll in a meeting with Republican senators, presenting a choice between Mr Powell and Mr Taylor.

特朗普似乎很享受這種戲劇場(chǎng)面：據(jù)說(shuō)本月他在會(huì)見(jiàn)一些共和黨參議員時(shí)做了次民意測(cè)驗(yàn)，讓他們?cè)邗U威爾和泰勒之間作出選擇，這讓議員們大吃一驚。

Declining to give Ms Yellen a second term would be a break from established presidential practice in recent decades. Yet while Mr Trump appears to see benefits in reappointing Ms Yellen, given the economy’s strong performance and the record-high levels of the stock market, he has also expressed a desire to make his own personal mark on the institution.

如果拒絕讓耶倫連任，將打破近幾十年來(lái)的既定總統(tǒng)慣例。然而，特朗普雖然看到了再次任命耶倫的種種好處，比如經(jīng)濟(jì)的強(qiáng)勁表現(xiàn)和股市創(chuàng)下的歷史新高，他還是表示出希望在美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)留下自己的印記。

Mr Trump has interviewed Messrs Taylor and Powell, and Ms Yellen for the job. Also under consideration has been Kevin Warsh, a Stanford academic who like Mr Taylor would represent a sharp break from the current regime. Gary Cohn, the director of the president’s National Economic Council, saw his prospects for the job diminish after he criticised Mr Trump’s response to the Charlottesville protests.

特朗普已就美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席一職的任命與泰勒、鮑威爾和耶倫面談。斯坦福學(xué)者凱文•沃什(Kevin Warsh)也在考慮之中，沃什和泰勒相似，將代表著與當(dāng)前體制的分道揚(yáng)鑣。在沃什批評(píng)特朗普對(duì)夏洛茨威爾(Charlottesville)游行事件做出的反應(yīng)后，白宮國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)(National Economic Council)主席加里•科恩(Gary Cohn)認(rèn)為沃什出任美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席的前景堪憂。

Choosing a continuity candidate like Mr Powell would be in keeping with the Trump administration’s unexpectedly delicate handling of the Fed since the president’s inauguration.

選擇像鮑威爾這樣沿襲現(xiàn)有路線的候選人，將符合特朗普政府自總統(tǒng)就職以來(lái)出人意料地小心處理美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)事務(wù)的做法。

While Mr Trump regularly lambasted Ms Yellen during the election campaign, he has subsequently spurned any criticism of her or her institution, saying he really likes the chair. This reflects an awareness of the market sensitivity of any remarks associated with the world’s most powerful central bank. Mr Trump and his lieutenants have closely associated themselves with the soaring value of the stock market since he took over the White House.

盡管特朗普在競(jìng)選期間常炮轟耶倫，但之后他拒絕對(duì)耶倫或美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)做出任何批評(píng)，稱(chēng)他真的喜歡耶倫。這反映出，特朗普意識(shí)到市場(chǎng)對(duì)與世界最強(qiáng)大央行有關(guān)的任何評(píng)論都很敏感。特朗普和他的助手們自特朗普?qǐng)?zhí)掌白宮以來(lái)一直表示支持股市市值不斷飆升。

Mr Powell is a well-known figure among bankers and investors, having worked as a partner at Carlyle Group from 1997 to 2005 following a stint at the US Treasury under George H.W. Bush. He is not an economist, in a break from several decades of precedent at the Fed. Both Ms Yellen and her predecessor Ben Bernanke had high-profile careers in academic economics.

鮑威爾在銀行家和投資者中是一位知名人物，他曾在老布什(George H.W. Bush)當(dāng)政期間供職于美國(guó)財(cái)政部，之后于1997年到2005年在凱雷(Carlyle)任合伙人。鮑威爾并非經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，若他獲任，這將打破美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)前幾十年的傳統(tǒng)。耶倫及其前任本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)在經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域都曾有杰出的職業(yè)生涯。

Mr Powell has been supportive of Ms Yellen’s arguments that the Fed is unlikely to be in a position to lift rates very far given slower potential growth and low inflation. Recently he has steeped himself in markets plumbing at the Fed, including examinations of liquidity shortages in treasuries trading.

鮑威爾支持耶倫關(guān)于美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)加息的主張。耶倫認(rèn)為，因?yàn)闈撛谠鲩L(zhǎng)放緩和低通脹，美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)不太適合大幅抬高利率。最近鮑威爾在美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)潛心做市場(chǎng)研究，包括考察美國(guó)國(guó)債交易中的流動(dòng)性短缺問(wèn)題。

The administration would be counting on him to be more willing to ease regulatory burdens on the financial sector than Ms Yellen, who was closely allied with regulatory hardliner and former governor Daniel Tarullo. Nevertheless, some Republican lawmakers have been critical of Mr Powell for not doing more to curb regulation as a Fed governor.

特朗普政府將會(huì)期望鮑威爾比耶倫更愿意減輕金融業(yè)的監(jiān)管負(fù)擔(dān)。耶倫與監(jiān)管強(qiáng)硬派、前美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)理事丹尼爾•塔魯洛(Daniel Tarullo)是親密盟友。然而，一些共和黨議員一直批評(píng)，身為美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)理事的鮑威爾沒(méi)有為減少監(jiān)管做出更多努力。

Mr Powell’s candidacy has been strongly backed by Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, whereas many conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been backing Mr Taylor.

鮑威爾的候選資格得到了美國(guó)財(cái)長(zhǎng)史蒂文•姆努欽(Steven Mnuchin)的強(qiáng)烈支持，而國(guó)會(huì)山的很多保守派議員則支持泰勒。

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

白宮沒(méi)有立即回應(yīng)置評(píng)請(qǐng)求。

Additional reporting by Demetri Sevastopulo 迪米(Demetri Sevastopulo)補(bǔ)充報(bào)道