Gary Cohn as Federal Reserve chairman could add 5 percent to the S&P 500, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday.
“He’s a practical guy, and I think he’s not a theoretical guy. I think he is a guy who understands the labor force better than any of the people I’ve heard describe it,” Cramer said.
A Politico report, citing four sources, said Cohn is President Donald Trump’s top choice to succeed Janet Yellen when her term expires in February. Cohn is Trump’s National Economic Council director.
CNBC and other media outlets have also been buzzing for months about the possibility of a Cohn appointment.
Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street” that Cohn is not a “cheerleader” but has a quality that makes Wall Streeters feel far more optimistic. Cohn is a “five-hour energy drink” compared with Yellen, Cramer said, adding “he would be worth maybe 5 percent in the S&P.”
Before joining the Trump administration, Cohn was the No. 2 executive at investment bank Goldman Sachs. A Cohn appointment would break with a tradition of having an economist as Fed chairman.
Cramer, also a former Goldman alum, said, “I know him from a previous life.”
“The guy has had his whole career in finance, and that’s what I want,” Cramer said. “I would love to have a Fed chief that understood finance in reality.”
For its part, the White House told CNBC that Cohn is focused on his responsibilities at the NEC, pointing to recent comments in which Cohn told MSNBC on June 29: “I love my job. Think of the opportunity I have. I have the opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done in 30 years, which is reform the U.S. tax code. I have the opportunity to be involved in redoing the United States infrastructure, something that desperately needs to be done. I don’t know how many people can sit here and tell you that they have that opportunity.”
Cramer spoke about the Cohn speculation ahead of current Fed Chair Yellen’s address to Congress on Wednesday.
In prepared remarks, Yellen said rates are close to a “neutral” level and not in need of a significant move higher.
Cramer: Gary Cohn as Fed chairman could add 5% to the S&P