Labor Secretary Marty Walsh participates in a roundtable discussion at Delgado Community College on job quality, wages and workforce training on Monday … House Financial Services hearing on the President’s Working Group’s stablecoin report Tuesday … White House CEA Chair Cecilia Rouse and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) speak at an AEI and Brookings Institution forum on childhood in the U.S. on Tuesday … Senate Banking hearing on minority depository institutions Wednesday … Joint Economic Committee hearing on older workers Wednesday … Fed Governor Michelle Bowman and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speak Wednesday … Consumer price index data released Thursday … Senate Banking hearing on how landlords change the housing market Thursday … CFPB Director Chopra joins virtual discussion with Washington Post Live Thursday … Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin speaks Thursday. POWELL BECOMES ACTING FED CHAIRMAN — Fed Chair Jay Powell became acting chair of the Fed’s board of governors Saturday, after his four-year term as the central bank’s leader expired on Friday (which was also his 69th birthday). From our Victoria Guida: “Powell's role involves two jobs: head of the Fed’s Washington-based board, which has jurisdiction over bank regulation and payments matters, and chair of the central bank’s interest rate-setting body, known as the Federal Open Market Committee. The FOMC, which has discretion to choose its leader, named Powell as chair at its annual organization meeting, the central bank said in a press release.” The Senate Banking Committee is aiming to vote on Powell’s nomination for a second term on Feb. 15, Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has said, but it’s not clear how soon the full Senate would vote on his confirmation. CFPB’S ROHIT CHOPRA CAN’T STOP PICKING FIGHTS — Our Katy O’Donnell: “ In less than four months on the job, [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit] Chopra has zeroed in on big technology companies, banks and credit-reporting firms, signaling a crackdown on their handling of personal data and fees. After he instigated the resignation of a Trump-appointed bank regulator, in what Republican critics called a ‘coup,’ he launched a crusade to shield consumers from billions of dollars in ‘junk’ charges by lenders.” “His combativeness — akin to that of his former boss and CFPB architect, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — has delighted progressives and alarmed industry lobbyists who deal with the bureau, escalating partisan tensions around an already-contentious agency.” PERLMUTTER: PELOSI WILL ADVOCATE FOR CANNABIS BANKING — Our Natalie Fertig: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has assured Rep. Ed Perlmutter, the lead sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act, that she will advocate for it to remain in the China competitiveness bill when the two chambers head to conference. The House passed the America COMPETES Act Friday with the cannabis banking attached as an amendment.” “[Pelosi] understands, too, that I'm committed to put this on anything that I can,” Perlmutter (D-Colo.) said. “She sees it – and I hope the Senate ultimately sees it – as inevitable.” WHAT COMES NEXT AFTER THE STUNNING JOBS REPORT — Also from Victoria: “The government’s latest employment report defied economic forecasts and gave President Joe Biden a sudden burst of good news: a flood of new jobs, surging wages and more workers participating in the labor force, even as Omicron surged. The report was so solid — 467,000 jobs were created in January and the totals were revised upward by more than 700,000 for the previous two months — that it may provide more fuel for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.” TREASURY WARNS OF NFT RISKS — Our Sam Sutton: “Non-fungible tokens — the hottest trend in crypto — could emerge as a new front for money laundering schemes centered around the art industry, the Treasury Department said in a report on Friday. The report, which details the art world’s potential vulnerabilities to financial crimes, found that the fast-growing market for NFTs — digital tokens linked to images, videos, audio files and other media — could create new avenues for criminals to move money while evading scrutiny from regulators or law enforcement.” YELLEN SAYS SHE HAS ‘NO PLANS TO LEAVE’ — Bloomberg’s Christopher Condon: “Janet Yellen, President Joe Biden’s surprise pick as Treasury secretary in the wake of his 2020 election victory, says there’s too much unfinished business to think about departing the role after just over a year on the job. “We still have a huge amount of important work to do,” Yellen, 75, said last week in a statement to Bloomberg News following a wide-ranging interview marking her first year in office. “I have no plans to leave Treasury anytime soon.” INFLATION IS PROBABLY ABOUT TO SPIKE (AGAIN) — Bloomberg’s Vince Golle: “ The consumer price index probably jumped 7.3 percent in January from a year ago, the largest annual advance since early 1982, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Excluding volatile energy and food categories, the CPI is projected to have risen 5.9 percent.” MODERN MONETARY THEORY TAKES ‘A VICTORY LAP WITH AN ASTERISK’ — NYT’s Jeanna Smialek profiles Stephanie Kelton, the former Bernie Sanders aide and Stony Brook professor who has become “ the most familiar public face of Modern Monetary Theory , which posits that if a government controls its own currency and needs money — to make sure its citizens have food and places to live when, say, a global pandemic pushes many out of work — it can just print it, as long as its economy has the ability to churn out the needed goods and services.” EMERGING MARKET INVESTORS DIVE FOR STOCKS AMID FED STORM — Reuters’ Rodrigo Campos and Marc Jones: “Developing world investors, buffeted by various ‘taper tantrums’ over the last decade, are now nervously watching as the rainmaker of global markets - the U.S. Federal Reserve - readies its most aggressive rate hike cycle in 17 years.”
| 
