Yellen's New Challenge

    This week, Janet Yellen was nominated by new President Joe Biden as Treasury secretary, and despite her occasional spat with Republican lawmakers as Fed chair, Yellen's nomination is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate.

    What new challenges will her new job as Treasurer's face?

    To stabilize markets, Trump's use of Twitter to set policy has exposed businesses and investors to unpredictability. Yellen has served as president, governor, vice-chairman, and chairman of the San Francisco Fed at the Fed, which means she is aware of the market impact of her words. Investors expect Yellen to be a stabilizing force on Wall Street.

    To stimulate the economy, one of her top priorities will be deciding what to do with the Fed's emergency lending program for the pandemic. Outgoing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said some programs will end on schedule on Dec. 31. With interest rates extremely low, Yellen said deficit spending was affordable, and there was a high probability that she would push for what she called "extraordinary fiscal support,"

    Financial regulation, Democratic liberals support Yellen to tighten financial regulation, for which she will be the coordinator of the Biden administration. That would put her in a policy battle between activists and moderates over Wall Street regulation.

External relations, part of Yellen's new jobwill be to work with the State Department and other national security agencies to manage the vast U.S. sanctions program and repair relationships with allies hit by Trump's "America First" stance, including managing trade policy and relations with China.