Yahoo Finance Video and Brian Sozzi Sun, January 25, 2026 at 9:00 PM GMT+8

In this video: ^GSPC

US President Trump said he is close to announcing his pick for Federal Reserve chair, replacing current Fed Chair Jerome Powell after his term ends in May.

FedWatch Advisors founder and chief investment officer Ben Emons joins Opening Bid host Brian Sozzi to discuss which candidate will be the "best friend of the markets."

Be sure to check out Jennifer Schonberger's profiles of each of the possible candidates to be the next Fed chair: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, Fed Governor Chris Waller, and BlackRock's (BLK) head of fixed income Rick Rieder.

To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid.

Video Transcript 00:00 Brian

Ben, if you're reading uh if you've been watching the president's comments, let's say the past week or so, it sure seems like Kevin Hassett's not going to get this Fed job. Seems like Hassett, what he's doing right now, going on TV, talking bullishness, talking bullishly on the economy. If it's a Kevin Walsh, uh or even, let's say even a Rick Rieder, friend of the show, we've known them for uh known Rick for a long time. Is it, would it be more, I guess just less bullish for stocks because the thinking was Hassett would get this job. He at one point was somewhat of a shoo-in, and that would be bullish for stocks on the view that he might be more inclined to cut rates.

Yeah, I think that's right, Brian, because you know, it who's going to be the best friend of the markets here from the remaining candidates? You know, Rick Rieder clearly is, I think because of his background and being a portfolio manager himself and having spoken in interviews with yourself and other networks that he really sees his balance sheet as an opportunity to help the housing market and thereby, you know, stimulate essentially the economy, which the stock market will pick up as positively. Kevin Warsh has a very different view about that. He says, no, we have to focus on interest rates with the Fed and this balance sheet cannot play a role and fiscal spending actually has to be reined in. And although there's some views within the administration about that too, at the end of the day, I think it's it's about who's who's really going to drive this this administration message out there through the Fed. That seems to be more like a like a Rick Rieder being more bullish for the markets whereas you say, Kevin Warsh has a more hawkish tone. So I think the market will react negatively if that if the announcement is that Kevin Warsh will be the next Fed chair.