i think it's janet yellen, don cohen. >> why are you living? >> you've given me the perfect introduction to john harwood. he tweeted on this very issue today. let me tell them what you said. only potus and a few others really know, but well-informed person on team obama this a.m. pegs summer's chances for fed chair as 2-3. what more can you tell us? >> a few things. we can't emphasize that this is a very closely held thing. so, the people that we're talking to, me and the other people covering this are those who are reading tea leaves, talking to their friends, picking up shards of information. we don't know. we're getting near the finish line. there's a campaign by liberals in the senate, especially, to press for janet yellen. they want to have the first woman fed chair. they don't like the fact that larry summers said some things that people thought were insulting to women when he was the president of harvard. they don't like his management style, the fact that he supported bank deregulation in the clinton administration. but larry summers se

janet yellen has a great record. ve had a surprising number of discussions, karen, that follow the same pattern. yellen is great but either she looks toughness, she's short on gravitas, she's too soft spoeke or passive. >> those are some of the comments people make when we get the exact opposite about why people don't like larry summers' personality, because he's so brash, because he can be taken as offensive. but i think this will come down to, to some degree, and i would imagine the president knows this, the politics in the fall. i mean if he's going to try to get harry reid to do something that is going to use a lot of political capital knowing the mess that the republicans have created, that they're going to have to also deal with in the fall, at some point you have to decide where are you going to spend that political capital. >> the last thing he needs is a fight against his own party. >> john, i want to -- i'm going to cut you off, i'm sorry. john, i know you're not a betting man. but if you had to bet, seeing

i think janet yellen and larry summers are the same type of person. will get the same kind of printing. larry summers started during the mexican currency crisis. they started printing money. host: plenty of questions. thank you. guest: a lot of what was said has some merit in terms of yellen and janet larry summers being similar in terms of their monetary policy. most people expect they would pursue similar policies is appointed, at least in the near term. janet yellen has been more outspoken in support of quantitative easing them larry summers. as far as inflation, some things like gas and some food prices have risen. my thing was only that there have been forecasts of significant price increases which has not yet come true. the point was made you cannot just print money and have no consequences. there is some truth to that. lower interest rates have impacted savers and older americans who live on fixed incomes and often their savings. it is hard for them to earn money from that. that is one consequence some people see as a negative. host: back to th

i don't think there's much that janet yellen can do.nk that she's some sort of dangerous super-dove idea. i think that's ma larky, but i would be surprised if it's not larry summers. >> jeff, i'll ask you for your choice, but one point quickly. both of those extinguished -- there's no taylor rule, no nominal gdp rule. it's called the phillips curve trade-off, but that's what they're going to do, they're both going to target. the unemployment rate. >> i think there is a difference, but from that perspective, yes, with you say it be moved from 6.5% to 7%. we think that was a big game changer, but i think yellen is the choice, it's a smoother transition. i think larry is brilliant, and we're not taking anything away from him, but i think he's more volatile. there's a huge person kind of relationship in washington, so maybe he gets the nod, but from a more sedated perspective, yellen would be the better transition. >> listen, janet yellen, again she has spoken very positively about nominal gdp, afternoonors fed policy to a nominal gdp targe

janet yellen and the economic advisors. both have plus and minuses, the lead candidate thought to be larry summers. the fed chairman won't be attending. other top fed officials will be here like bill dudly, the president of the new york fed, jim from st. louis and john williams from san francisco along with christine la garza head of the imf and central bankers from around the world. big top picks will be whether quantitative easing will be working and if not, what the federal reserve should do instead. is the strategy adequate? the conference beginning tomorrow night with a dinner and academic papers and discussion over the next two days and i think one of the things i'll

closed-door meetings kind of left the impression that maybe larry summers had an edge in this race over janet yellen, the current vice-chair and some other candidates but here's what he said about it. take a listen. well, what he wade sass is that both yellen and summers were qualified candidates. so he didn't tip his hand on that part of it but he did say that he wants to make sure as he considers who he is going to name to replace ben bernanke at the fed that he wants to make sure that the fed is not openly fighting up nation, it is also looking at jobs and job creation, addressing, seriously addressing its dual mandate. david: like if you want to insult somebody, you start with a compliment. you say he has great hair but he is an idiot. he started the conversation on qe by saying, yes, i'm concerned about inflation, but, and then he talked a lot longer, it seemed to me about the issue of improving the jobs picture and invigorating the economy. one would assume by more qe. >> well, yeah, who knows what the thought is, is that janet yellen would continue, might support additional qe if she were nam

i'm also told that geithner himself is not happy with janet yellen as a possible choice. now that leaves don kohn a name used by president obama. but don kohn, i know he's a good guy, good man, a smart man but he's a 70 something guy. that's why i'm coming back to geithner who has run the search. that much i know. >> absolutely. if you run the search. if that's your reporting i have no reason to doubt it. what i would suggest, those is don's name has been mentioned. i think what you're getting as more than anything else the white house has bungled this affair from the beginning. i don't know how it quite spun out of control but they certainly didn't control the process. they let janet yellen hang out there for a while and then damaged her by putting in larry summers name. then larry summers has been out there and made him available to be whacked in the press and media and become a magnet for political controversy and criticism. so you may be right here they have to move on. one of the things about the fed is the guy who or the woman who is appointed chairman should be uni

you can deploy and so far she says i think that janet yellen is going to be the next fed chairman but larry summers is an extraordinarily capable of such. swim the washington. so unlikely i would think that he could very well wind up and spend charm and i think that if he doesn't beat us off because he's terrible but you know you never know you know you never know but let me go back to something you said before you were talking about money printing and critic and i know that you're also talking about hyperinflation on your blog critics say that we haven't seen the price inflation yet you know and we have these almost now two trillion dollars in excess reserves do they really matter. well i think that they do the thing is prices have risen so far. specifically oil and gold have risen since two thousand and eight but they've doubled since then since they're two thousand a lot less right and so i wouldn't go so far there hasn't been even i would say it's obviously the deflationary pressures have been far greater than the inflationary pressures up to this point. and so as a as an about hy

. >> not that i think janet yellen would be a bad choice.would be a better choice. i think he's had more real world experience around the world, not just in the u.s. >> would you agree with that? you clearly disagree but what experience would you cite for janet yellen for being the next fed chair? >> i don't know why real world experience matters for this particular job. i spent the last numbers of years -- i've hired dozens of people and when i look at a resume i look at a bunch of things, not just whether or not you have an iq of 1,000 or whether you traveled around the world or who your best friends are in politics but it comes down to experience. in fact, i would say the three major factors behind this choice should be experience experience, and experience okay. mark carney didn't get the top job at the bank of england because he's got friends over in london or because he was a big shot at goldman sachs. the reality is that he built up a dossier at the bank in canada as being a pre'em ent central banker so it comes down to experience in

the other, federal reserve vice chairman janet yellen. here's how the washington post put it. has the appointment of a new fed chairman been accompanied by so much commotion penetrating even the political dead zone of mid august. the opposing camps have waged high-profile media campaigns featuring dueling op-eds. to talk about we have jared bernste bernstein, and cnbc contributor ron ensana. good to see both of you. >> good morning. >> all of this politicking, the fed's supposed to be apolitical, the white house doesn't like the vetting process to be public. why, jared, has this gotten so wild? >> well, i'm sure from the white house perspective, that's a great question. this is not at all the fight they want to have right now. i think it's gotten wild because the president himself came out fairly strongly suggesting even though it's not been completely -- we know it's going to happen, that bernanke will be leaving his post at the end of this year. so, of course, that opens things up and the next thing you know you've got the two front runners and we do have a frenzy that's not

and the monetary policy where some people see janet yellen more in line with the current policies ofernanke than larry summers. >> larry summers has said he thinks these current qualities are adding to the economy. he is brash. >> brilliant. >> brilliant but brash, but he seems to have the ear of the president at this point. thanks so much, john berman. >>> watching your watchers. is your television watching you? >> what this means is i could be sitting here watching tv from my bedroom and you could be anywhere in the world looking at this image of me watching. >> yep. i could be sitting at a laptop in a cafe in paris. >>> when you're watching tv like right now, this very moment, you probably don't think someone could be on the other side watching you back. an alarming security flaw in samsung's smartvs makes this possible. loir has more. laurie? >> reporter: here at this hacker convention, we've spoken to a lot of folks and they're saying there are major vulnerabilities. check it out. what's really eye opening here is you watch tv, but with this hack, your tv can watch you. show us

plenty of women that is not -- >> that is just the argument that some people are hearing about janet yellen and as vice chair of the fed as somebody who has been written about at being much more collaborative thinker, summers makes quite frankly stupid decisions, he was drummed out of harvard university, he is a very self important kind of guy. and he may be brilliant but he's abrasive and you don't even want somebody like that in the -- running the fed whose position really controls the u.s. economy. >> i totally agree with you. i totally oppose summers' appointment i was incredibly disappointed when they -- he's pushing his nomination. but i don't want to take away, use that to say that obama is not appointing women and not sensitive to women. he's appointed plenty of women, he could do better, absolutely. larry summers is a completely different discussion. >> we need more elizabeth warren. that's why it's not quotas or not some kind of pc thing it's let's get these guys who have had hammer lock on power and trashed our economy. >> one last thing, obama in december, january of this year t

melissa: compare him to janet yellen? that is the persoa lot of people were assuming for a long time would be the nominee. it is thought she would be more dovish than he would. she would leave the punchbowl out there longer as we call it in terms of looser monetary policy and quantitative easing. do you think that's a correct assumption? >> i would think that would be her predisposition. she might not be able to act on it if markets pushed interest rates higher but yes, i don't think janet yellen ever seen an unemployment rate low enough to suit her. her intention would be to be more dovish. if tapering begins under bernanke, i couldn't see her reversing that. if it begins under bernanke. summers might continue it. she might have slowed it down. melissa: given your experience who do you think the better choice of the two of them? >> oh, neither one of these excited me. i think it would be much more interesting if we talked about what the fed should be doing instead of the personalities of all the names out there the one i

betting early on was janet yellen would get the nod. no one has it yet.ear it is summers to screw up. maybe they find a comment about women not knowing how to do open market operations as well as men. that is possibility with larry summers. lori: bottom line, you believe, or you're hearing from your sources that one of the reasons yields have spiked so dramatically because rare larry summers who might be the president's favorite might have -- >> less after dove than yellen. lori: we characterize him as a hawk? will he take the foot off the gas, hike rates? >> it's a guess. particularly the bond market. if you wonder why the yields are backed up this is the summers effect. we should point out peter barnes went out last week and first to report that summers is the odds-on-favorite. other places chimed in but this is a market story of the these bond yields are spiking. that's a spike. you know, that is like today, right? we're talking, that is pretty amazing. that's a spike. lori: when you have the stock market down and bond market down, usually they work ag

he defended janet yellen but maybe i'm not going to go with her. there are other outstanding people. are there other outstanding people or is it a two horse race? >> think he's leading from behind again. i think he doesn't know what he's going to do right here. wall street, a lot of folks in the business community they would love to see larry summer. but, i think, again he has real problems with his base. one of the little dirty secrets -- >> gender politics. janet yellen, not monetary politic, not about the there are, not about the inflation rate, not anything about gender politics. >> he wants to deep war on women going. >> i'm not so sure about that. i think he wants summers. he mentioned susan ricin that press conference. of course he eventually dropped susan rice. he fiercely defended her because he wanted her. he wants larry summers. >> let's go back to susan rice. he didn't push hard for susan rice. he put her in the nsc. >> the senate said we'll not confirm her. we'll filibuster and that's when she or he relented. i don't think the republic

janet yellen been to the white house once.was for a meeting with former economist alan krueger. liz: what about roger ferguson, alan blinder, some of these other names, do you see them stopping by? is there a chance the president will simply say the heck with all of you about these two, let me bring in a dark horse, a name that isn't out there front and center and who might be easy to get confirmed? >> one source that talked to about the other candidates said, quote, this is a police lineup. they want to make sure that it looks like the president is considering lots of candidates and that he has deliberative process underway but they are discounting the other candidates you just mentioned. ashley: we shall see. what about tim geithner? liz: tim doesn't want it as charlie reported. ashley: there you go. liz: charlie, thank you very much. ashley: ledge epdairy investor wilbur ross ceases opportunities in companies where others left for dead and he has made billions. his advice coming to you completely free only on fox business.

we tried to get jay carney to say good things about janet yellen.ent on any potential appointee but the president just finished praising larry summers. >> that may be like a baseball owner saying i have 1,000% confidence in my manager the day before he gets fired. >> bill: talking all things economic about the job numbers in july here with our good friend, stan collender. you're welcome to join the conversation at 1-866-55-press. always save a seat at the table for you. we'll be right back. >> announcer: go mobile with bill press. download pod costs at billpressshow.com. listen any time, anywhere. this is the "bill press show." we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a g

janet yellen is the vice chair of the federal reserve. there are many who believe that breaking the glass ceiling would be historic. are you annoyed by this debate? do you believe this will be one of the most important, if not the most important economic decisions you'll make in the remainder of your presidency? >> it's definitely one of the most important economic decisions i'll make in the remainder of my presidency. the federal reserve chairman is not just one of the most important economic policymakers in america, it's -- he or she is one of the most important policymakers in the world. and that person presumably will stay on after i'm president. so this, along with supreme court appointments, is probably as important of a decision as i make as president. i have a range of outstanding candidates. you've mentioned two of them. mr. summers and ms. yellen. and they're both terrific people. i think the perception that mr. summers might have an inside track simply had to do with a bunch of attacks that i was hearing on mr. summers pre-empt

until now it's been a one-sided debate with critics of larry summers and supporters of janet yellen beingthe loudest because most summers supporters are insiders that don't talk to the press very much. >> you hear people talking about the gender and the gender of summers and a whisper about how don't count out larry summers because he's a man. the people think the president needs to promote a high-profile woman to this job. >> it is a high-profile job in washington. he's been accused of running a men's club there and picking a woman would be a use move for him. a big issue is that larry summers is an acquired taste but the problem is that it's a taste not many people acquired. he is abrasive, made enemies in the work in government at the time he was president of harvard university. there are people who haven't approved of the comments of women and all of that baggage and then very real policy debate where people -- some people see janet yellen in line with the policies of bernanke than larry summers. >> he thinks that the current fed policies are leading to income inequality. i have been

jean-francois, investors favor janet yellen. going to be larry summers, what sort of reaction do you think we'll get? >> well, clearly, janet yellen is seen as probably the biggest along with bernanke, maybe nor than bernanke in a way, so, clearly, she was in a way a continuation of a dovish federal reserve. we are a little bit more cautious about the possibility and that the easing is not that efficient to deal with that, so probably it is going to be a little bit more on the oakish side. so, maybe we can see a little bit of not sell-off, but the selling pressure on the u.s. market, because it means that the fed is going to reduce probably most currently its buying of t-notes, which is about one-third of it, so that's something we can play out in the next couple of weeks. and we should have an indication of this decision by mid-september, something around that regarding yellin or summers. that's something to follow as well on the u.s. market. >> all right, jean-francois, thanks for that. jean-francois robin from natixis in pari

a lot of people are saying janet yellen. they've tried to gain these odds for a long time.ice chairwoman of the fed right now, larry summers a senior advisor to president obama, former treasury advisor, round economic circles for many years. you try to game plan these things and try to game the odds, who do you talk to? you talk to people who work on wall street who have firsthand knowledge and sources inside the administration and those are my sources on this. this guy is directly talking to those people and that is what they are relating to him. liz: to say he is here in new york, but they'r there's soa brainiac type of firm. this is a scientist. charlie: you would think they vetted that part already because he worked in the administration going through the vetting process. remember, he did stuff after that, he was an advisor to citigroup, that is pretty knee-jerk. build out a systemically important bank that does work with, believe citigroup probably in the gm recapitalization. the government sold its stake in gm. did he play a role in that? who knows. when you start doi

reputation is he's a little more hawkish and less enthusiastic about quantitative easing than janet yellenhink the market actually wants? i ask you. what do you think the market really, really wants? >> yellen. >> i agree. i think the market wants yellen. the market wants yellen because the market prefers the devil they know to the devil they don't. >> they love their addicts. near term addicts. >> true. i listen to your show and i watch the blogs and all of that stuff. i'm not convinced that people in the markets love qe as much as you're saying. >> no, the short-term guys do. the long-term guys don't. >> i will tell you, i have clients who a year ago we were having these big philosophical or economic debates about whether qe forever was warranted and then a year later it was i can't believe they're going to take this away. so he's got a point around all of this. people don't want change. they don't want the uncertainty. i agree, most people think it's been ineffective in terms of macro economic growth and it hasn't boosted cyclical stocks yet. they don't want to take it away. >> i think

stuart: i thought janet yellen was a shoe in.berkeley, she will print more money. i thought she was the shoe in on those counts but apparently not. liz: she would be the first -- they all rich. liz: she makes fifty million, assets fifteen million -- disclosures in the range -- ben bernanke is a million or so and gets most of his money from textbooks. most of those fed governors are millionaires according to the fed disclosure documents and she is in there with her husband with a sweet pile. stuart: thanks very much. we will continue this extravaganza in one minute. and opening the capital one purchase eraser? i need to redeem some venture miles before my demise. okay. it's easy to erase any recent travel expense i want. just pick that flight right there. mmm hmmm. give it a few taps, and...it's taken care of. this is pretty easy, and i see it wor on hotels too. you bet. now if you like that, press the red button on top. ♪ how did he not see that coming? what's in your wallet? before you know it, the definition of "rich" in new yo

i think janet yellen is well respected in the administration. lien to summers just because of what we are hearing in washington. dagen: is it just a political reward for summers? you bring in somebody who is, i guess, is trouble getting along with folks at points in his career. >> don't you think that both of them would essentially have similar polys on dragon -- similar policies. it is a big deal. dagen: i am anxious to see him do one of those press conferences. it was great to see. thank you so much. every night you can see brett hosting special report on the fox news channel. connell: oil is the reason saudia arabia is willing to jump in and help egypt. dagen: a rise in the cyber attacks that you see on smart phones. new information shows how you are at risk. we have a fox business exclusive. connell: dennis kneale will have updates at the top of the hour. one of the big stories has been interest rates. we will be right back on markets now. ♪ to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. ax

i think janet yellen is a great consensus builder. she is great enough.an. >> there has been a conversation about sex in this? >> well, i think so. >> they get janet yellen's, i think she is a strong candidate the idea saying she is a him who, you should consider her as a woman diminishes everything she's done. >> we need to depoliticize this discussion. when your newspaper put an endorsement. this is a technocrat job. not somebody working for this. this is the first time i seen a political fan. >> same situation. where you have sort of campaigns taking place, right? the larry summers campaign? >> there is always a short list of people, never this kind of -- >> who cares, man, woman, alien, whatever, that has some grounding if actual huh pan life. right. all this fed chairman, regardless, all the discussion we are having, no offense professor, columbia, stamford, berkeley. and they're very smart people. that's great. we need smart people. but harvard. it's these elite universities that just seem to trade players like the yankees, you know and -- as oppose

first of all, where do you stand on this idea of janet yellen versus larry summers? what did you interpret the president's defense of larry summers to mean? >> i don't know that it's anything other than the president defending a longtime friend. that is not to say that he's made up his mind about who he's going to recommend. it's not a decision that must be made in the near future. i suspect that sometimes in the -- he'll make a decision. i think all the president was doing was saying he's a friend of mine and i do not wish to see him being made a whipping boy. and that's all that was to me. i don't put anything else into that except a gentleman defending a longtime friend. >> do you have a preference? >> well, i'm always looking to make history up here. and there's one appointment that would be history making. that is to break the glass ceiling for women in another category. >> so if president asks your advice, you would say you would like to see janet yellen, it sounds like. let me ask you about the issue of the voting rights act. did that topic fully come up in th

you describe janet yellen has the 11. she is a pretty low-key person but a tough cookie for a lot of people land summers is a top debater. either one of them will have a challenge keeping the peace at this point after ben bernanke leaves. he is a real peace maker. nicole: would you think of jackson hole? any expectations for jackson hole? >> no. there will be a lot of discussion about whether these policies the feds have been doing are doing much good. there will be a lot of talk about the exit. and the third thing there will be a lot of talk about the impact of the fed on the international market. there will be a lot from all over the world in this thing. so much volatility overseas as people anticipate, a great place for a reporter, a chance to get up close with a lot of decisionmakers but i don't see headlines out of the last few jackson hole meetings and on to your point about the fed pulls back, that is a really good point. the market is getting all excited about did the fed start pulling back in september or october

today we have two leading candidates, larry summers, the former treasury secretary and janet yellen. the guidance on quantitative easing is unclear and the guidance is something that will be debated. larry, reports from here will have several different chair men. back to you from lovely jackson hole. >> thanks. cnbc's steve liesman, thanks. i'm delighted. right now i think the fed has no clear idea what it's going to do and when it's going to do it. with nominal gdp growth under 3%, real growth under 2%, a lot of very soft data, i don't know why the fed should taper at all. my message to the boys and girls of the fed, be very patient until you decide. my message to the marketplace, the fedotenko wait until december. a mini taper with $10 billion. i'm not even sure about that. let's get some kmin tear ri here. let's bring in our guests here. all right. lee hoskins, what did you hear the fed say today? what did they try to tell us or do they simply not know? >> larry, i agree with you and steve in terms of the information about the minutes. you might do better looking at the entrails o

. >> she would be janet yellen.mic strategist talking big economic date -- debate, janet yellen or larry summers. labors in for yeoman. >> it tells you one thing. when from coal want a balanced approach to what the weaker dollar to benefit his constituents and this is in my opinion what the problem is. it is becoming who the fed chair will be is becoming politicized. the issue is a great -- in the roads credibility and that is paramount right now. connell: back to markets than for a moment if we can and talk about what the actual differences would be in your view, interest rate policy and monetary policy for the federal reserve, the dual mandate we mentioned going into the richard trumka peace, what would the difference be, actual difference between janet yellen and larry summers? >> said the most basic level yellen is seen as perhaps more dovish ben bernanke -- ben bernanke. summers is seen as strong dollar, more hawkish, possibly ending the q e program more quickly, raising rates more quickly and all of that will

secondly, janet yellen, the vice-chair, is the favor of many liberal democrat, including a significantn the senate. but larry summers appears to be the favorite among white house staffers and, of course, he worked very closely with president obama as the head of his economic council. i talked to one source today, pretty well informed as an outsider can be, who pegged the chances that larry summers will get this pick out 2 out of 3. of course, we've got to wait and see if that reflects the president's thinking, and we should find out in a few weeks, maria. >> that's terrific scoop, john. so you also have some news on the battle brewing over the debt ceiling, right? >> reporter: well, it could be related. you know, the republican leadership was burned by what happened in 2011 when the debt crisis hurt their party's reputation. they very much want to avoid a government shutdown, avoid a debt crisis. the administration believes that they want to do that, as well. the challenge will be how they bring along the republican base. it could be a contentious fall as we work out the continuing res

i think janet yellen, is perceived as more dovish than larry summers.ee to six months back larry summers was asked to talk about quantitative easing and he said he doesn't think it was a good thing. >> will you have to change your investment style based on who is chosen depending on one or the other? >> we are simply going to observe it. i think larry summers would be more positive for lower inflation and the longer curve, i think janet yellen would be more positive for the front end of the curve. this is, she would be a chairman that would keep policy rates lower for longer. and so, you know, we'll observe. right now, there's a london vetting market, bill, that has 60/40. 60 for summers and 40 for yellen. it is a toss-up at the moment. we will have to wait and see what happens? >> let me ask you about richmond, california. your firm, with blackrock, among other bond investors seeking a court order to block richmond and corners llc from seizing mortgagees from imminent domain. you say the initiative would hurt savers and retirees. what can you tell us?

janet yellen is the vice-chair of the federal reserve. there are many women in the senate who are democrats, breaking the glass ceiling would be historic and important. are you annoyed by the royaling debate? do you find it unseemly? do you believe this will be one of the most important, if not the most important, economic decisions you'll make in the remainder of your presidency? >> it is definitely one of the most important economic decisions i'll make in the remainder of my presidency. the federal reserve chairman is not just one of the most important economic policymakers in america, it's -- he or she is one of the most important policymakers in the world. and that person, presumably, will stay on after i'm president. so this, along with supreme court appointments, is probably as important a decision as i make as president. i have a range of outstanding candidates. you've mentioned two of them. mr. summers and mr. yellen -- ms. yellen. and they're both terrific people. i think the perception that mr. summers might have an inside track

many believe the race is down to two, between summers and fed vice chairman janet yellen. john harwood will join us a little bit later on "morning joe." >>> later this morning, we'll get a look at how confident consumers are about the economy. yesterday stocks lost posing near session lows and the dow back below the 15,000 level. steve sedgwick live this morning. steve, good morning. >> very good day to you. syria comments from kerry which were sending stocks down across the globe. asian stocks have been lower today as well. elsewhere, bigger investments, bill ackman became the biggest shareholder in jcpenney. this chap is sitting on a $349 million loss. the shares closed on the 16th at $13.40. he's cashing in his chips there and it could be an enormous loss on that trade which just didn't work from start to finish. >>> last week we were talking about yahoo! beating google in the number of site visits. according to one rival group, they are saying google is beating it by a magnificent factor, 42 billion site visits where yahoo! got only 6.8 billion. depending on how you me

obama says he has a range of outstanding candidates, and confirmed that janet yellen and larry summers are both in the mix. "a critical part of the job is making sure we keep inflation in check, that monetary policy is sound, that the dollar is sound. those are all critical components of the job." the news conference followed a closed-door meeting on goverment surveillence. ceos from apple and at&t were among those who attended. the president is opening an investigation into nsa surveillance programs. the former jp morgan trader known as the "london whale" may be off the hook. reports say bruno iksil is not likely to face charges related to bad trading bets that racked up more than $6 billion in losses for jp morgan chase. iksil is called the london whale because he was based in jp morgan's london office and put on monster-sized trading positions. the justice deparmtment and sec are still investigating the bank, but the whale trader is said to no longer be the focus. things are looking up in the u.s. according to bruce flatt. he's the ceo of brookfield asset management and is often ref

he has surpassed janet yellen as most likely to replace ben bernanke.he recent record highs in the stock market, there are plenty of sectors that have failed to keep up. michael gayed of pension partners is skyping with us this morning to tell us if some of those may be good places to park money. good morning, michael. - hello. - let's start with the bond market - good time or bad to go long on bonds? - i think bonds in general have probably overreacted to this fear about the fed tapering and pulling back on quantitative easing, given that inflation expectations are still relatively muted, and given really a lack of demand pull and cost to push inflation. jobs are not picking up in a very accelerated away. commodity prices are not rising, suggesting that you're not going to see inflation pushed through to the consumer, so it's hard to see how the fed can really step back too aggressively. now, that probably means there is an opportunity a little bit longer and in the curve. but, every single time the fed has tried to step away from stimulus, they've had

janet yellen and the economic advisors. both have plus and minuses, the lead candidate thought to be larry summers. the fed chairman won't be attending. other top fed officials will be here like bill dudly, the president of the new york fed, jim from st. louis and john williams from san francisco along with christine la garza head of the imf and central bankers from around the world. big top picks will be whether quantitative easing will be working and if not, what the federal reserve should do instead. is the strategy adequate? the conference beginning tomorrow night with a dinner and academic papers and discussion over the next two days and i think one of the things i'll listen for is whether or not the federal reserve believes the economy is strong enough to reduce the stimulus as soon as september or whether or not that will happen later. for "nightly business report" i'm steve liesman. >>> we turn to lee ann sundayers for her thoughts. liz ann, it seems like there was a lot of doubt, a lot of confusion about what was i

he went on to say that there are some - other than front runners fed vice chair janet yellen and former treasury secretary lawrence summers - who are contenders for the top spot, but who aren't being discussed in the press. fisher said he was confident president obama would make the right pick. in the wake of a debate over whether or not banks should be allowed to own physical commodities comes word that goldman sachs is being sued because of the practice. the bank owns a big chunk of the u.s. supply of aluminum. it has been accused of holding on to that supply, keeping it off the market and thereby manipulating its market price. the class- action suit labels the practice "monopolistisc" and also targets the london metals exchange, which oversees metal warehousing. the lme says that the suit is "without merit." lena khan has been reporting on this story. she says the inclusion of the lme is key: "over the last few weeks, a lot of the attention has focused on the banks - on goldman sachs, jp morgan - and what they're doing with the warehouses, but i think the fact that the lme has design

we know that -- we believe that the two front-runners for the job are janet yellen and larry summers. we haven't heard from the president yet. we may hear from him pretty soon after labor day, tyler. >> john, it's suzy. you talked about the top priority of dodd/frank. but what else is on this economic agenda that you just referred to? what's the most important thing that he has to get done. >> well, of course, the president's got fiscal standoffs heading up with congress on continuing to fund the government, figuring out what to do about the sequester, whether the burdens of the sequester get rearranged. and also to raise the debt limit so the government can continue to borrow money and keep operating. we had a crisis in the summer of 2011 when congress refused to raise the debt limit. that resulted in a downgrade. the administration believes that a debt crisis is the only thing that could really push this economy into recession. they've got to figure out a path to avoiding that. >> back to dodd/frank, why is the regulation writing taking so long? >> very complicated law. i was talkin

connell: the big debate has to be larry summers or janet yellen.a mystery candidate that could really shake things up. you think there really is a mystery candidate? >> i think the white house wants a list of at least four or five names to choose from. he is a very good economist. he has that experience. he said ferguson should be the chairman. connell: what do you make of this summers versus yellin stuff? a lot of negative stuff about larry summers. a big-time economic advisor. now, supposedly, everybody hates him. >> a big story talking about these financial services jobs that they have had. what is interesting is you read them all and you say that is not so bad. he is in an advisory role. he refused to lobby. this is exactly the kind of experience you want to see. connell: they have never forgiven him during the clinton administration. they would like to see janet yellen. >> how about the fact that he cannot quit wall treet? connell: what will the differences be? will there be real big differences? >> i think that there would. it is truly democr

the great larry summers versus janet yellen debate rages on. markets seem to think summers would bring a much more tight-fisted fed policy. and is this really worrying the bond market? well, who knows better than austan goolsbee? he worked with both yellen and summers, and he is going to tell us. and please don't forget free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. before this show is over we're going to talk about some free market policies in the great state of wisconsin and elsewhere. i'm kudlow. please stay with us. jackie: there are plenty of things i prefer to do on my own. but when it comes to investing, i just think it's better to work with someone. someone you feel you can really partner with. unfortunately, i've found that some brokerage firms don't always encourage that kind of relationship. that's why i stopped working at the old brokerage, and started working for charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for? talk to us today. every day we're working to and to keep our commitments. and we've mad

will it be janet yellen or larry summers?s not think that bernanke's debate will have any affect on policy. i want to continue this debate. you are also looking at these headlines. did anything that he said surprise you? it took the markets down 30 or 40 points. >> it has been pretty consistent commentary about this whole matter. as you know, many commentators are saying this appears to be that it is a tapering. it is not intended to be a termination. there is a big difference. cheryl: he is making that clear. that seems a little light to me. initial claims down 6000 last week. >> this has been talked about in the media. it is a slowing down. it seems when you read the fomc committee meeting minutes, this is intended to be a slowdown. it is not intended to be a slowdown. >> this is why the minutes have become much more interesting. >> right. there has always been distinction. it is more of a consensus meeting in any event. not really one where you have this deliberate chairman meeting statement. that is the style of the fed r