Investors wondering what President Donald Trump’s move to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook might mean for financial markets today can look back half a century for some insight. President Richard Nixon, aiming to clinch a second term in the White House, pressured then-Fed Chair Arthur Burns to loosen monetary policy before the 1972 election. Tape recordings of Oval Office discussions show Nixon, who went on to resign in 1974 for abuses tied to the Watergate scandal, used both direct and indirect actions to coerce Burns . More than 50 years later, Nomura currency strategists led by Craig Chan said Trump’s decision to fire Cook, the first African-American woman to sit on the Fed, may “refocus” investors on how the market reacted to Nixon’s attempt to steer the central bank, using the earlier move as a possible guidepost for what to expect now. In the current case, Trump cited unproven allegations of false statements Cook made when applying for a mortgage. Cook said the president “has no authority” to fire her. To be sure, Chan said history “may not be a perfect match” given other variables and how markets have changed since the era of fixed exchange rates, the gold standard and the Bretton Woods post-war monetary system. Still, the Nomura analyst noted historical parallels between Trump’s attempt to fire Cook on Monday …
