Trump to nominate economist Nellie Liang for Fed board seat Source: AP

President Donald Trump is set to nominate former Federal Reserve economist Nellie Liang to the central bank's board of governors, tapping an official who played a key role at the Fed in dealing with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters confirmed the president's intention, which was first reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal.

For once, it’s good news unemployment went up

YOU KNOW these are interesting times in the U.S. economy when it's a positive sign that the unemployment rate just went up. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the jobless rate ticked up from 3.8 percent in May to 4.0 percent in June, but that's good news because it reflected an increase of job seekers of approximately 600,000, drawn from the pool of previously discouraged workers.

Fed keeps key rate steady but notes rising inflation

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday but noted inflation is nearing the Fed's 2 percent target rate after years of remaining undesirably low. The Fed ended its latest policy meeting by leaving its key short-term rate unchanged at 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent, the level it set in March after its sixth rate increase since December 2015.

Rampell: Let’s hope no crisis befalls Trump’s economic leadership

Last week, for the 10-year anniversary of the Bear Stearns failure, Marketplace released an hourlong interview with the key economic policymakers involved: Former Federal Reserve chair Ben S. Bernanke, George W. Bush administration treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., and former New York Federal Reserve president Timothy F. Geithner, who would later become President Barack Obama's treasury secretary. Listening to their recounting of the start of the financial crisis, I found myself unexpectedly wistful.

Powell taking over as Fed chairman at time of economic calm

Jerome Powell has won Senate confirmation to head the U.S. central bank, inheriting an economy on a roll, a booming stock market and unemployment at a 17-year low. He will succeed Janet Yellen, the first woman to serve as Fed chairman, when her term ends on Feb. 3. The position is considered the government's most power economic job.

Fed chair nominee Powell pledges to a respond decisivelya to economic threats

The U.S. Federal Reserve should "respond decisively" to any new economic crisis, Fed chair nominee Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, positioning himself as an heir to the central bank policies of current chair Janet Yellen and her predecessor Ben Bernanke. At his confirmation hearing before the banking panel, President Trump's nominee to take over as Fed chair endorsed the core ideas that have defined U.S. central banking since the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 - a willingness to move aggressively against a downturn, and an insistence on flexibility and independence from political influence in setting policy.

Who is Jerome Powell?

If Jerome Powell is tapped as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, he'll be the first former investment banker to hold the position. Sources tell CNN Trump is likely reveal his pick to head the Fed on Thursday, and Powell, 64, is reported to be the leading contender .

ROSENBERG: Everyone obsessing over who becomes the next Fed…

His pick is not as relevant as many are making it out to be because with a few exceptions, Fed chairs are not bigger than the institution they oversee, Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg argues. The next chair will direct the huge task of slowly reversing the Fed's accommodative policies without causing another recession.