The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Monday that Daniel Tarullo, the central bank’s top financial regulator, has tendered his resignation and will be stepping down on April 5, 2017. Tarullo has been a member of the Fed since 2009 and has been instrumental in repositioning the U.S. financial system as a safe and stable entity following the 2008 financial crisis. Tarullo was a voting member of the Fed and he served as chairman of the Fed’s Committee on Supervision and Regulation and as the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation.
Tarullo’s resignation will give Trump an additional opportunity to appoint a Fed member who will help him implement plans to ease the reforms implemented during Tarullo’s tenure. There are two additional positions open in the Fed as well. Tarullo’s time in the Fed was fairly contentious with liberal groups praising him for helping to protect Americans from another financial crisis, and critics complaining that Tarullo unexpectedly changing stress-test requirements and creating rules without providing sufficient explanation or background.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen will be speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday in a semi-annual speech about the Fed’s policy, and traders are eagerly looking for hints as to whether there will be an interest rate hike in March, which analysts now believe will not be likely.
The dollar hit two-week highs against the yen during Tuesday’s Asian session to trade at 113.45, while the euro firmed slightly against the greenback to trade at $1.0609. All three U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Monday, with Wall Street hitting historic peaks during Monday’s trading day, as the S&P 500’s market value exceeded $20 trillion dollars on hopes that Trump’s proposed tax cuts would continue to fuel the economy. Asian shares followed their U.S. counterparts on Tuesday on hopes that economic stimulus will weaken the dollar.