by Calculated Risk on 9/22/2013 09:59:00 PM

From Jon Hilsenrath at the WSJ: Yellen Would Bring Tougher Tone to Fed

Janet Yellen, the lead candidate to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, brings a demanding and harder-driving leadership style to the central bank, in contrast to Mr. Bernanke's low-key and often understated approach.

Ms. Yellen, the Fed vice chairwoman, is highly regarded by many central bank staff members, who call her an effective leader with a sharp mind. But she has clashed with others and left some hard feelings in the wake of those confrontations, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former staff members and officials who worked with her directly in recent years.

Most agree that Ms. Yellen—who has climbed the ranks from Fed researcher to Fed governor and regional Fed bank president, in between stints outside the central bank—is exacting and exceptionally detail-oriented.

I believe Yellen will be an excellent Fed Chair.

Monday:
• 8:30 AM ET, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August. This is a composite index of other data.

• At 9:00 AM, the Markit US PMI Manufacturing Index Flash for September. The consensus is for an increase to 54.0 from 53.9 in August.

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of September 22nd

• Preliminary annual Employment benchmark revision to be released Thursday

The Nikkei is down about 0.2%.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P futures are flat and DOW futures are up slightly (fair value).

Oil prices are mostly unchanged with WTI futures at $104.59 per barrel and Brent at $109.02 per barrel.

Below is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are below $3.50 per gallon again.  If you click on "show crude oil prices", the graph displays oil prices for WTI, not Brent; gasoline prices in most of the U.S. are impacted more by Brent prices.

Orange County Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com