MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Janet Yellen ready to become the most powerful woman in world finance

The Senate will vote on her nomination as Fed's chairwoman in December and there seems to be sufficient votes

The United States Senate Banking Committee approved on Thursday Janet Yellen's nomination to become the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, sending it to the full Senate for a final vote. If she is confirmed, as is widely expected, the current No. 2 at the central bank will replace its chairman, Ben Bernanke, when his term expires on January 31, making her the most powerful woman in world finance.

 The vote was 14 in favor and 8 against. Three Republicans voted in favor of her nomination and one Democrat voted against.

Nominated by President Barack Obama, Yellen is viewed as a monetary policy dove who puts more weight on driving down high unemployment than on the risk this will ignite future inflation.

She will preside over a central bank that has taken dramatic and unconventional steps to spur US growth and hiring, measures that have stirred fierce complaints among critics fearful of future inflation and the potential for asset price bubbles.

The Fed has held benchmark US interest rates near zero since late 2008 and has quadrupled the size of its balance sheet to 3.9 trillion dollars through three massive bond purchase campaigns aimed at lowering the cost of long-term borrowing.

This has made the Fed a target for Republican lawmakers worried that these ultra-easy policies have enabled big spending by the Obama administration. Despite those concerns, Yellen is expected to handily win confirmation when the full Senate considers her nomination, likely in December.

Democrats control 55 of the 100 votes in the Senate, which means she would need the backing of only a handful of Republicans to secure the 60 votes that would be needed to clear any procedural hurdles that might be thrown in her way.

Meantime in Wall Street the Dow industrial index closed above 16,000 for the first time as stocks rebounded from three days of weakness, after economic data pointed to a slowly improving labor market and subdued inflation.

Financial shares led the market to its first day of gains after three sessions of losses. Although investors remain unsure about the timing of the Federal Reserve's scaling back of its 85 billion per month in bond buying, some say the market will weather the eventual pullback in that stimulus.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 109.17 points, or 0.69%, to close at a record 16,009.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 14.48 points, or 0.81%, to finish at 1,795.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 47.89 points, or 1.22%, to end at 3,969.16.

However European shares fell led by financials, after the Federal Reserve signaled it may start withdrawing its monetary stimulus in the next few months. Weak data from China aggravated the decline. Minutes of the Fed's Oct. 29-30 policy meeting showed bank officials felt they could start scaling back the asset-purchase program at one of its next few meetings if economic conditions warranted it.