Trump Fed Pick Judy Shelton Says Central Bank Should Support Markets

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve should continue providing liquidity for the growing U.S. economy, said Judy Shelton, one of President Donald Trump's picks for a seat on the Fed's board of governors.

Shelton, who Trump named Tuesday as a nominee for one of the two open Fed board positions, said the economy isn't registering inflation on the horizon and the strong June jobs report indicates that the administration's pro-growth policies are working.

“More than half of American households are invested through mutual funds or pension funds in this market," Shelton said in an interview on CNBC Friday. "I don't want the Fed to pull the rug out from under them."

U.S. payrolls increased by 224,000 in June, topping all economist estimates. That led traders to scale back their more aggressive bets on Fed rate cuts this month, though a reduction is still expected by the market.

Larry Kudlow, a top Trump economic adviser, said earlier Friday that the Fed should reduce interest rates. The U.S. central bank raised rates four times last year, with the last increase in December drawing especially heavy criticism from the Trump administration. Fed officials have shifted their outlook since then, and in June they opened the door to a rate cut.

Trump tweeted this week that he was tapping Shelton and Christopher Waller, director of research for the St. Louis Fed, as his latest choices for board positions. The president has recently struggled to find candidates that would be accepted by senators who must confirm nominees.

Read more: Trump Taps a Longtime Dove and a Onetime Gold Bug for Fed

Shelton, who has been an informal adviser to Trump, has a doctorate in business administration from the University of Utah with an emphasis on finance and international economics. She previously worked for the Sound Money Project, which was founded to promote awareness about monetary stability and financial privacy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Haar in New York at rhaar3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor

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