U.S. President Trump said on Monday that he may announce his nominee to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Powell before the end of the year. Powell's term will end in May next year, and the candidate pool has been narrowed down to five finalists. Treasury Secretary Bessant plans to conduct a second round of interviews with the current list of candidates next month, and then submit a more streamlined list of nominees to the president for his consideration. Bessant revealed on Monday that the five finalists include two current members of the Federal Reserve Board who were originally nominated by Trump: Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, who also serves as vice chairman of bank supervision. There are currently two candidates who are widely regarded as the frontrunners: Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, and Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve Board member. The fifth candidate on the list is Rick Rieder, a senior executive of BlackRock Group, who is responsible for overseeing the company's large bond business. (Jinshi)