Federal Reserve Chair candidate Rick Rieder manages $2.4 trillion in assets at BlackRock and is considered the most knowledgeable person in the U.S. bond market.

BlockBeats News, January 28 — According to Fortune, over the past two weeks, Rick Rieder’s probability of becoming the next Federal Reserve Chair has surged to nearly 50%, clearly leading the second-ranked Kevin Warsh (29%) and third-ranked Christopher Waller (6%). Rieder’s career has almost entirely been on the front lines of the global bond market, working as a trader and asset manager, with long-term involvement in the market, interpreting and profiting from central bank policy signals. In simple terms, no one understands the bond market better than Rick Rieder. And in Trump’s policy decisions, nothing is more important than “whether the bond market is rising or falling.”

Currently, Rieder is responsible for BlackRock’s global fixed income business, managing assets worth up to $2.4 trillion, about one-sixth of the $14 trillion assets under management at this global asset management giant. A former CEO who has worked with Rieder described him as “very approachable,” and stated that Rieder “has a deep understanding of market operations and can maintain independent judgment.”

If Rieder takes over as Federal Reserve Chair in May, he will face extremely tough challenges. His stance on the federal funds rate has long been clear and is closer to the Trump camp. In an interview with CNBC on January 12, Rieder said, “The Fed needs to bring interest rates down to 3% (currently 3.50%–3.75%), I think that’s closer to an equilibrium level.” The problem is that the Fed is currently implementing two policies that could push inflation higher. In mid-December last year, the central bank reversed its previous quantitative tightening (QT) policy. Additionally, the Fed is also reducing the amount of reserves banks are required to hold at the central bank.