WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama intends to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his Treasury secretary to confront the nation’s intense economic turmoil, senior Democratic officials said Friday. The stock market soared on the news.
Word of Geithner’s likely selection emerged as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in line to become secretary of state, said through a spokesman that discussions were on track for her appointment.
Obama plans to announce Geithner’s appointment Monday in Chicago, barring an unforeseen snag in a background check that is nearly complete, said one of the senior officials, both of whom were familiar with the deliberations.
Obama’s choice for attorney general, a third critical post as the president-elect rounds out his top Cabinet echelon, is Eric Holder, who held the No. 2 slot in the Justice Department in President Bill Clinton’s administration.
If nominated and confirmed by the Senate, Geithner, 47, would assume chief responsibility for tackling an economic slowdown and credit crunch that threaten to create the deepest recession in more than a generation. In his current post in New York, he has played a key role in the government’s response to the financial crisis and has worked closely with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve.
As a Treasury Department official during the Clinton administration, Geithner (pronounced GITE-ner) dealt with international financial crises and played a major part in negotiating assistance packages for South Korea and Brazil.
Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary and one-time Harvard University president, was being considered as an economic adviser. Economic posts also seemed likely for Obama’s top two economic advisers during his campaign, Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman.
Officials also said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had emerged as a likely pick as commerce secretary, although he had hoped to be secretary of state. Like Clinton, he was a rival of Obama’s for the Democratic presidential nomination. He dropped out early, though, and soon threw his support behind the eventual winner.
The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the anticipated appointments.
Geithner held posts in the Treasury Department under three administrations and five secretaries before moving to the New York Fed in 2003. He also held positions at the International Monetary Fund and was employed at the private firm of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The Dow Jones industrials soared by nearly 500 points late in the day, a sharp rise that coincided with first reports of Geithner’s possible appointment.
