Fed vice chairman traded shares on eve of Powell’s pandemic statement – Bloomberg

October 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida traded between $ 1 million and $ 5 million from a bond fund for equity funds a day before President Jerome Powell issued an statement indicating potential political action due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Clarida’s transactions have been described in its 2020 financial information, showing the transfer of funds from a Pimco bond fund on February 27, 2020, and the purchase of the Pimco StocksPlus fund and the iShares MSCI USA Min Vol. Factor in similar dollar ranges. , the same day, according to the report. https://bloom.bg/3l34cjb

The next day, February 28, 2020, Powell released a statement that the coronavirus “poses evolving risks to economic activity.” He added that the Fed “is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook.”

“Vice President Clarida’s financial disclosure for 2020 shows transactions that represent a pre-planned rebalancing of his accounts, similar to a rebalancing he performed and reported in April 2019,” a spokesperson for the Fed.

“The trades were executed prior to his involvement in deliberations over the Federal Reserve’s actions to respond to the emergence of the coronavirus and not during a blackout period. The funds selected were chosen with the prior approval of the head of ethics of the Council, ”added the spokesperson.

The Bloomberg report comes as two other Federal Reserve officials came under scrutiny for the investment trades they made last year and announced their retirement on Monday. Read more

Report by Juby Babu in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy

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