Recapping the day's news and newsmakers through the lens of CNBC.
Notes:
It's Summers! No, it's Yellen! Then again, maybe it's someone else!
Speculation about President Obama's pick to replace Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke kept churning today, with analysts debating how the financial markets might respond.
In the wake of a CNBC survey saying Wall Street prefers Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, some warned that a nod to Summers could be tough for the markets to swallow, at least in the short term. They say Summers would push for a quicker end to the Fed's low-interest policies, which many credit for a big role in the stock gains of recent years. Many think Yellen, because of her stronger emphasis on unemployment, would take a slower approach to tapering, allowing the Fed's bond buying program to prop the markets up longer.
Some analysts think Yellen's Fed experience and gender will weigh in her favor, but others note that Summers and Obama have a history, too, as Summers has taken part in many presidential briefings on the economy.
And some, inclined the Machiavellian, think Summers is an administration stalking horse, a name floated to help test the market's view of Yellen.
How will it all unfold? It's a mystery for now—happily, something to keep us entertained during the August doldrums.
Quotes:
"If Summers is appointed, then we many see markets correct as tapering will be expected to happen more quickly. ... Yellen is a Fed insider and was part of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) when QE [quantitative easing] was being implemented, while Summers questions the efficacy of QE."—Macquarie Bank strategist David Forrester
"So all of a sudden if Larry Summers pops up against the logical favorite, which is Janet Yellen, it gives you a chance to vet Yellen, to look at how the markets do—when which horse is ahead, how is that going?"—CNBC's Art Cashin