UPDATE 2 - Trump says he will soon announce new Fed chair

ADDS TRUMP'S REMARKS TO CNBC

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to soon announce a new chairman of the Federal Reserve as he continued to criticize current Chair Jerome Powell.

“I’ll be announcing a new Fed chairman in the not-too-distant future. I think he’ll do a very good job," Trump said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

He renewed his long-running criticism of Powell, accusing him of acting too slowly on interest rate decisions.

“We have a terrible chairman right now. Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell. He’s always too late, and he’s very late with interest rates, except before the election. He was just fine for the other side.

“We’re going to have somebody that’s great, and we hope he does the right job," he said.

Trump criticized interest rate policies, arguing that higher rates undermine economic success and dampen stock market gains.

“Some of these stupid people like Powell, they raise interest rates. And what they do is they stop you from being successful. It used to be when we had a great quarter, a great month, great earnings, great anything, any good news, the stock market went up. That's the way it's going to be. We got to do that again, because that's the way it should be," he said.

Powell’s term is set to end in May.

Later, Trump told CNBC that a decision on the next Fed chair was imminent, adding he likes keeping White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett in his current post.

“I’d say we’re down to three, but we’re down to two, and I probably can tell you we’re down to maybe one, in my mind,” he said during the interview in Davos, when asked who would replace Powell.

Trump said all three nominees in his mind are "good."

"We have a problem with the man that's there now — he's too late! He's always too late," he added.