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WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama is set to appoint New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner as his Treasury secretary to take charge of fixing the parlous economy, reports said Friday.
Obama will personally unveil Geithner as the incoming Treasury boss at a news conference on Monday, along with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as commerce secretary and other members of his economic team, NBC News said.
The report by NBC anchor Andrea Mitchell, who is married to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, cheered depressed investors with New York's Dow Jones share index jumping nearly 500 points on the news.
There was no immediate comment from Obama's transition office to the report, which was echoed by ABC News, CNN and Fox News.
Economy.com analyst Augustine Faucher said the high-ranking Fed official was "an excellent choice for the post, given his background and work tackling the financial crisis."
Geithner, 47, has been on the front lines of the US central bank's battle to shore up the markets by overseeing its intervention operations from his berth at the New York Fed.
He was a career official at the Treasury Department from 1988 to 2001, serving under three administrations and rising to undersecretary for international affairs.
As the successor to Republican Henry Paulson, Geithner would become the overseer of a 700-billion-dollar bailout package for distressed banks at a time when the world's largest economy is staring at recession.
"Paulson has closed up the (package) waiting for the next Treasury secretary to come on board, so what they're going to do is reconsider the next tranche," said Jefferies analyst Art Hogan, anticipating a quick disbursal of new funds.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 494.13 points (6.54 percent) to close at 8,046.42, ending the week on a positive note after two days of brutal selling.
Even before the current chapter of the crisis erupted in mid-September, Geithner warned that the US and global financial systems were "going through a very challenging period of adjustment."
"The critical imperative today is to help facilitate that adjustment and to cushion its impact on the broader economy," he told Congress, calling for "substantial reforms" to policy, regulation and oversight governing markets.
Obama said last week that fixing the swollen US budget deficit would take a back seat to fighting a recession, while vowing new stimulus spending and help for the auto industry.
In his first major post-election interview, with CBS program "60 Minutes" broadcast late Sunday, the Democrat argued that economists from left and right agreed that "we have to do whatever it takes to get this economy moving again."
Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers and ex-Fed chairman Paul Volcker, who were both also tipped to head the department under Obama, are likely to play key roles as economic advisors to the new president, NBC said.
Other appointments Monday could include top Obama advisor Dan Tarullo as head of the National Economic Council while two other aides, Austin Goolsbee and Jason Furman, could staff the Council of Economic Advisors, it said.
Multiple networks reported that Richardson, a former energy secretary and UN ambassador, would become commerce secretary in charge of domestic US trade.
Richardson had been tipped as a possible secretary of state under Obama. But that pivotal job now appears to be headed to former first lady Hillary Clinton, according to aides and several reports.
- AFP /ls
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