U.S. President Joe Biden renominates Jay Powell for a second term as Federal Reserve Chair. Lael Brainard gets the nod for Vice-Chair, after weeks of speculation that as the Fed Board’s only Democrat she could have been chosen for the top job. Biden stressed the need for the central bank’s continued neutrality and independence. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit fresh record highs but investors are now focused on the Fed’s schedule for rate hikes. In corporate news, video-conferencing firm Zoom beats quarterly expectations and issues a better-than-expected outlook. However, shares are down on slowing revenue growth due to workers returning to offices. And the U.S. is set to release crude from its strategic reserves today in a bid to lower petrol prices.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.