ANALYSIS: President Trump has said he may move up the announcement of Powell's replacement, with analysts looking for public debate among FOMC members for clues as to who is 'auditioning' for the role.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made clear this week that he’s not ready to give in to demands by President Donald Trump to immediately cut U.S. interest rates. So what would convince him?

Trump is urging the Fed to cut rates to save the U.S. government money on its interest payments affixed to the vast national debt. Yet the Fed has long resisted considering the government’s financing costs when making interest rate decisions, preferring instead to focus on the health of the economy and inflation.