S&P 500 (^GSPC)

Bessent 'is the exact pick the market wanted' from Trump: Analyst

President-elect Donald Trump has announced Scott Bessent as his nominee for Treasury secretary. Raymond James Washington policy analyst Ed Mills joins Morning Brief with Seana Smith and Brad Smith to discuss the pick and why the market is viewing it as good news. "This is the exact pick the market wanted. Someone with significant investment experience, especially in the macro environment. If we look at the Trump policies on trade, on tariffs, having someone who understands the knock-on effect of that and can help position the United States to mitigate that, especially in other parts of his agenda ... This is who the market wanted," the analyst says. Bessent is expected to take a more measured approach compared to Trump's campaign rhetoric. Prior to being selected for Trump's Treasury secretary nomination, Bessent told Yahoo Finance that Trump's proposed 60% tariffs on China is "the beginning of a maximalist negotiating position. That's the way President Trump negotiates. I would be surprised if we ever hit that, but I think given his record in Trump 1.0, he has a lot of credibility in using tariffs to negotiate." Mills says, "There is going to be a certain part of the Donald Trump agenda that is trying to pursue that maximalist pressure, but Trump is also a negotiator." He adds, "Anything that's balanced, anything that's layered in, is going to be viewed as a positive to this market versus kind of that maximalist, impulsive push for tariffs on day one." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.

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