Stock market today: S&P 500, Nasdaq rise, Dow falls amid hopes for US-Iran talks

President Trump said during a televised interview aired Wednesday morning that he would move to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if he doesn’t resign when his term as chair ends in May.

“Well, then I’ll have to fire him, OK?” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business.

While Trump’s pick to lead the Fed, Kevin Warsh, is set to begin confirmation hearings this month, there is a chance Warsh will not be confirmed by May 15, the final day of Powell’s term. In that case, Powell would have the option to remain as chair “pro tem” until Warsh — or someone else — is confirmed, which the current chair has said would elect to do.

Complicating matters is the Department of Justice’s criminal probe into Powell over alleged cost overruns for renovations to the Federal Reserve building. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has said he will not vote to confirm any candidate to be the next Fed chair until the Justice Department drops its investigation into Powell.

Trump, however, has continued to insist that the probe continue, going beyond traditional norms of the division of powers by explicitly directing the Justice Department’s work.

“Here’s a man who took this little, tiny building and a couple of other little, tiny complex, and he’s spending more than $3 billion,” Trump said in the interview with Fox Business.

“It is probably corrupt, but what it really is is incompetent, and we have to show the incompetence of that,” Trump said. The president also noted that Tillis “is an American,” and that the Republican senator “knows what to do.”

While Powell’s term as chair ends in May, his term as a Fed governor runs through January 2028, and he has said he will not step down from the central bank until the probe is resolved.

Repairs to energy-linked infrastructure in the Middle East could cost up to $58 billion, with $50 billion in oil and gas-related repairs alone, the energy consultancy Rystad Energy said Wednesday morning.

In the seven weeks thus far of the so-called third Gulf war, air strikes and drones have damaged refineries, processing plants, pipelines, storage facilities, and other critical energy infrastructure. Rystad’s $58 billion repair bill estimate is more than double the $25 billion figure it published three weeks ago.

The primary constraint, however, is likely not to be capital but instead the availability of the smaller pool of equipment and contractors available to commence repairs, Rystad noted. Equipment and labor crews previously allocated to new build projects will have to be redirected, delaying timelines for new capacity, while those facilities needing damage will have to compete for the small pool of specialized labor available.

“This is no longer just a story about damaged facilities in the Gulf, it is a stress test for the global energy supply chain,” said Karan Satwani, a senior supply chain research analyst at Rystad.

The effects are unlikely to be felt evenly, Rystad noted. While facilities in more accessible countries with contractors readily available could start repairs within weeks, repairs on more complex facilities, such as Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG complex, could take much longer to begin, as specialized parts, equipment, and labor are scarce.

“Repair work does not create new capacity, it redirects existing capacity, and that redirection will be felt in project delays and into inflation far beyond the Middle East,” Satwani said.

“The $58 billion bill is the headline, but the knock-on effects on energy investment timelines globally may prove just as significant.”