More on Powell and Yellen — In Monday’s MM, we quoted Better Markets’ Dennis Kelleher suggesting that current Fed Chair Jerome Powell lobbied Donald Trump to dump then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Trump ultimately did this and nominated Powell, who is now up for renomination this year.

Several readers wondered where the allegation of a Powell lobbying campaign against Yellen came from, so we asked Kelleher. He emails: “Yellen was in a position (Fed Chair) where the person in that position had been reappointed uniformly for decades.

“As widely reported at the time … Powell was going after the job, which he could not have if she was in it. … So Powell’s allies are now saying, sure, he might have been lobbying … for the job, but not to have her fired. To me, that’s a distinction without a difference. He could not have the job that was filled by someone (Yellen) unless Trump de facto fired her, breaking with decades of tradition.”

Cap Alpha’s Ian Katz: “The one thing the administration doesn’t want to do is drop a surprise Fed nominee on financial markets. If Powell were to be replaced, the White House would have to do a lot of signaling of its move in that direction and we haven’t seen that.”

Cap Alpha's Ian Katz: "The Fed and FDIC hit Wells Fargo on Tuesday with sanctions related to the bank's living will. Wells is prohibited from setting up international bank entities or purchasing non-bank subsidiaries. That's not good, but it could have been much worse: The regulators chose not to impose higher capital requirements on the bank. 

"Meanwhile, four other firms that were told in April to resubmit their resolution plans were cleared – JPMorgan, Bank of America, State Street and Bank of New York Mellon. It's the latest in a series of embarrassments for Wells, which was once viewed as the Main Street good guy in contrast with its slicker Wall Street competitors."