Who Is the Next Cleveland Fed President?

Who Is the Next Cleveland Fed President? By Hardika Singh

Beth Hammack is set to become the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland after Loretta Mester. Meanwhile, Chicago's mayor is turning to pro-business initiatives to revitalize ailing office districts. And Chinese firms tagged as military entities use new names and licensing deals to try to keep their businesses going in the U.S. Read on for this news and more.

Top News Goldman Veteran Beth Hammack Will Become Next Cleveland Fed President

Beth Hammack, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, will become the next president of the Cleveland Fed, the bank said Wednesday. Hammack, 52, spent three decades at Goldman, where she served as global treasurer during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most recently, she was co-head of the bank's global financing group.

U.S. Economy Economy Is Growing, Beige Book Says, but Businesses Not Gung-Ho

The U.S. economy expanded in the late spring, a Federal Reserve survey found, but persistent inflation, high interest rates and political uncertainty caused businesses to turn "somewhat more pessimistic." The latest findings in the Beige Book suggest the economy is unlikely to speed up until inflation slows further and the Fed is able to cut high U.S. interest rates. ( MarketWatch )

Chicago to Offer Most Generous Subsidies in U.S. to Save Its Downtown

Chicago gave birth to the skyscraper in the late 19th century. Now, local developers and politicians are trying to keep many of today's office towers from dying off . The city is going beyond any other in providing public subsidies to convert obsolete office space into apartments and hotels, despite enormous budgetary challenges. Even Chicago's politically progressive mayor signed on last month.

Research Follow-On Stock Sales Are Picking Up Momentum

A hallmark of healthy equity capital markets is a robust deal flow where buyers and sellers both feel like they're getting good deals. That's starting to happen more in follow-on stock sales in the U.S. Since the start of the year, companies and private-equity holders have sold nearly $64 billion in follow-on offerings, Dealogic data show. These deals have been priced at a smaller discount, on average, than the last two years, and after the sales the stocks have risen more, on average. This is a good sign that deal flow is picking up momentum, some bankers say. - Corrie Driebusch

Investors Expect a Slow Summer for the Fed

Investors put better-than-even odds on the Fed holding rates steady through its next three meetings. Market pricing implies a 52% chance the Fed will target the same 5.25% to 5.5% range after its September meeting as it does now, the CME FedWatch tool showed early Wednesday. That conviction was even stronger at the end of April, at 54%. It then wavered, hitting a low after the release of reassuring consumer-price index data on May 15, before climbing again. - Quentin Webb

Financial Regulation Blacklisted Chinese Companies Rebrand as American to Dodge Crackdown

Chinese firms trying to buffer themselves from Washington's anti- China policies are rebranding and creating U.S.-domiciled businesses to sell their wares as the Biden administration expands the government entity lists that restrict Chinese companies' business dealings in the U.S., say policymakers and national-security experts.

Forward Guidance Thursday (all times ET)

8:30 a.m.: U.S. GDP second estimate for first quarter

8:30 a.m.: U.S. advance economic indicators for April

Friday

8:30 a.m.: U.S. personal income and outlays and PCE price index for April

Basis Points Federal prison officials have moved Sam Bankman-Fried to a facility in Pennsylvania, a sign that the FTX founder could be on his way back to the jail in New York that he left last week. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website showed Wednesday that Bankman-Fried was at the federal correctional institution in Lewisburg, Pa. Earlier this week, the website showed him at a transit facility in Oklahoma that often houses federal inmates being moved across the country. - Alexander Osipovich China's president is urging officials to create more jobs for young people and migrant workers, in what could be a signal that employment policy may be in the pipeline ahead of a key political meeting in July. Employment for young people including fresh graduates is a top priority, President Xi Jinping told members of China's top decision-making body this week, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday. He also called for more efforts to be made to help migrant workers get jobs, Xinhua reported. Chinese authorities will impose export controls on technology, software and equipment used in aviation , the country's latest move to enhance national security. - Jiahui Huang China's property slump has weighed heavily on land sales , drying up a key source of revenue for local governments. Now, authorities are looking at an unconventional way to fill up their coffers: data monetization. Taiwan expects to triple its economic growth rate this year as strong demand for new technology such as artificial intelligence boosts the island's exports. The economy expanded at a rapid 6.56% in the first three months of the year, outpacing most of its peers, according to official data. That was up from the 6.51% growth estimated in April. - Fabiana Negrin Ochoa India's buzzing economy and fiscal reform efforts wins an outlook upgrade from S&P , a move economists say might pave the way for sovereign rating upgrades. - Fabiana Negrin Ochoa In India, the divide between the politically powerful north and an economically powerful south has become a potent fault line , putting the geographical split at the center of this year's national election. - Shan Li, Vibhuti Agarwal and Tripti Lahiri The New Zealand government forecast a return to a budget surplus by 2027-2028 , but warned of an increasingly difficult economic backdrop in the interim with the economy suffering through an extended recession.- James Glynn Confidence in the eurozone among consumers and businesses alike improved this month as the bloc looks increasingly sure of a soft landing from recent years' high inflation and interest rates. - Joshua Kirby About Us

WSJ Pro Central Banking brings you central banking news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors. This newsletter was compiled by markets reporter Hardika Singh in New York. Send your tips, suggestions and feedback to [[e-mail]].

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-30-24 0718ET