It seems 'someone' doesn't want the world knowing just how much of a 'long shot' Larry Summers is for the great-and-powerful-Oz position of Chairman of the Federal Reserve. As we showed just last week [8], PaddyPower showed Yellen as a strong 77% probability favorite with Summers lagging notably behind in the pack. Then comes this morning's comment from the second most powerful man in the world:
- *OBAMA SAYS LARRY SUMMERS BEING UNFAIRLY CRITICIZED: SHERMAN
- *REID SAYS SUMMERS IS A FRIEND, A `COMPETENT' MAN
And Goldman's Jan Hatzius' warnings that Summers is less 'enthusiastic' on using monetary policy than his competitor Yellen. And now - as the image below shows - PaddyPower has removed its betting on the next Fed head [9]. We just wonder who got the tap on the shoulder?
[10]
PaddyPower [9]
Via Reuters, [11]
U.S. President Barack Obama pushed back on Wednesday against critics who complain that his former top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, was not aggressive enough in seeking more economic stimulus funds than Congress ultimately approved in 2009.
...
At the closed-door meeting, Obama said that he had not made any decisions on his choice of Bernanke's replacement, according to a number of House Democrats.
"The decision is not ready to be made. He was quite clear about that," Representative Steve Israel said.
"He did talk about Larry Summers' qualities, but he also said there were many other candidates with their own qualities."
and then there is this:
- OBAMA SAYS VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE AMONG FED CANDIDATES: REID
Well there is this? [12]