When Donald Trump announced Friday that hedge fund manager Scott Bessent was his pick for Treasury secretary, there was a massive sigh of relief from the markets, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling sharply (a sign that investors think Bessent will help keep inflation cool) and the stock market getting a little bump.

With Scott Bessent, consumers eyeing prices and interest rates are getting a Treasury secretary pick who is deeply aware of the big-picture forces pushing and pulling those everyday costs, experts say.

Investors seemed to signal their approval for Scott Bessent as a safe choice to implement the president-elect’s economic agenda.

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary operates a hedge fund that reaped a massive windfall two years ago — even as global markets sagged.

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, will prioritize delivering on election tax cut pledges, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Finance Committee as well as the Senate Banking Committee, commended his fellow South Carolinian, in a news release, saying Bessent will “usher in a tax code that enhances growth, investment and economic opportunity for all Americans.”

Now is one of the stronger times of the year for stocks. pic.twitter.com/Hh4kA7xx6V — Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) November 26, 2024 The stock market rallied on Monday as investors reacted positively to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary.

In 1992, Bessent helped Soros pull off the firm’s greatest trade: shorting the British pound. The British government was part of the European Union at the time, and its central bank—the Bank of England—had committed to keeping the value of the pound within a strict range alongside other European currencies,