National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, left, looks on as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on September 5. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Washington —

President Donald Trump has spent months boasting that he has the opportunity to replace Jerome Powell when the Federal Reserve chair’s term ends in May. But after Trump gave his strongest hint yet that he has picked a successor, markets sent a message of their own: Not so fast.

After months of speculation over the names of the dozen or so candidates, Trump finally said last week he knows who he will nominate to be the most powerful figure in the US economy. Just days later during a Cabinet meeting, Trump singled out National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett as “a potential Fed chair,

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