Republicans have knocked Sarah Bloom Raskin as too liberal on climate change and Lisa Cook as underqualified ahead of a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday. Meanwhile, a Democratic senator's illness threatens to stall nomination votes in the full chamber.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin praised all five of President Biden's nominees for the Federal Reserve, an important signal for their confirmations in the 50-50 Senate.

The Federal Reserve’s shift toward a major reduction of its footprint in the U.S. bond market this year has upended expectations for sustained cutbacks to the Treasury’s quarterly sales of longer-term debt, forcing dealers to gird for bigger auction sizes down the road.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was ready to raise interest rates in March and didn’t rule out moving at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in a generation.

Treasury dealers and investors are busy trying to predict exactly when the Federal Reserve might pull the trigger on cutting the size of its balance sheet and how big that drawdown could be when it does.

The Federal Reserve Board would become far more diverse if Sarah Bloom Raskin, Philip Jefferson and Lisa Cook are confirmed by the Senate. Jefferson and Cook are respected economists seen as likely to get the nod, but Republicans will challenge Raskin's assertions that bank regulators can play a vital role in combating climate change.

Federal Reserve officials said a strengthening economy and higher inflation could lead to earlier and faster interest-rate increases than previously expected, with some policy makers also favoring starting to shrink the balance sheet soon after.

The guessing game is over about President Biden’s pick for Federal Reserve chair, but several names are in the mix for three additional vacancies on the board, including vice chair for supervision.

He also told the Senate that he wanted to retire the word “transitory” to describe price increases, and he said inflation pressures will “linger well into next year.”

Federal Reserve officials at their last meeting stressed the need for flexibility on how quickly they will scale back their bond-buying program as well as the timing of interest-rate increases, before data showed inflation accelerating.

In order to complete the monthly cycle of two-, five- and seven-year notes before Thursday’s holiday, the Treasury Department is cramming them into Monday and Tuesday, which hasn’t gone well in the past.

Two progressive Democratic senators said they oppose the renomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to a second term, joining Elizabeth Warren in urging President Biden to choose someone else.

A majority of the 49 economists in the survey predicted the U.S. central bank will begin the taper in November and wrap it up by mid-2022, curbing the current $120 billion monthly buying pace by reducing Treasuries by $10 billion a month and mortgage-backed securities by $5 billion.

Federal Reserve officials broadly agreed last month they should start reducing emergency pandemic support for the economy, minutes of the Sept. 21-22 Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday said.

“I myself believe that the ‘substantial further progress’ standard has more than been met with regard to our price-stability mandate and has all but been met with regard to our employment mandate,” Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Tuesday.

Federal Reserve officials reinforced the U.S. central bank’s message that it would probably begin winding down its bond-buying program soon, though the economic recovery still had a way to go before interest rate increases would be appropriate.

If progress toward the Fed’s employment and inflation goals “continues broadly as expected, the committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the U.S. central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve told a judge not to scrap Libor as requested by consumers in a lawsuit because it would pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates.

The industry had tightened up last year in the face of COVID-19. But as the economic outlook improves, banks are now easing criteria amid heightened competition, according to the Federal Reserve’s survey of loan officers.

The timing of major upcoming shifts in Treasury supply and demand will be crucial in determining if the recent downward trend in yields continues or finally reverses.