Will he stay or will he go? With criminal probe over, Fed Chair Powell faces big decision

jerome powell is likely in his final weeks as fed chair and now faces a big decision on whether to stay at the central bank at all. the justice department on friday removed itself from a criminal probe into renovations at fed headquarters, referring it to the fed's inspector general instead. powell had vowed to stay until that probe was resolved. now it is, he has to choose: leave the fed entirely, as most prior chairs have done, or stay on as a governor for the remaining two years of his term. evercore isi's krishna guha thinks the doj move came too late for powell to leave on may 15, and that the threat of a restart is too inconclusive. guha's hunch is powell stays for some months to avoid any impression of a de facto plea deal or exit under pressure. president trump has threatened to fire powell if he doesn't leave on his own. powell's designated successor, kevin warsh, had a confirmation hearing this week, but senator thom tillis vowed to hold up a committee vote until the criminal investigation was completed. jefferies' david zervos said friday he thinks wall street would take a positive view of powell leaving now, saying a statement that he'll leave at the end of his chair term would cause the market to go up and yields to drop. powell gets a chance to address the issue wednesday at his fomc news conference. a fed spokesman declined comment on powell's plans.