Citadel wants US students with ideas for the Federal Reserve

efinancialcareers.com:

Hedge fund Citadel is no stranger to running competitions for students, or to hiring students who've won competitions like Olympiads. Its latest competition, open only to students in America, is usually pertinent, though: it wants people to help devise US monetary policy.

Get Morning Coffee  ☕  in your inbox. Sign up here.

US students have until February 22nd to apply to participate in Citadel's 'Fixed Income & Macro Central Bank Challenge', based in New York. Those who succeed will be asked to propose monetary policy recommendations to a panel of judges and to participate in a macro trading challenge. 

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve opted to hold rates at 4.25%-4.5%, prompting complaints from Donald Trump. The Fed said that it judged that, «the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance.» Trump think rates should fall «a lot.»

Citadel's challenge will run over two days in early April. Successful applicants will get to share their monetary policy ideas with Edwin Lin, Citadel's top macro portfolio manager and the head of fixed income and macro for the fund since 2016. They will also opine to Angel Ubide, a former Goldman Sachs MD who's been Citadel's head of economic research since 2018.

Winners of the challenge will receive cash prizes of unspecified sizes. They will also get their transport paid. 

In March 2024, Citadel CEOKen Griffin said the US Federal Reserve should be wary of cutting rates prematurely only to increase them again later. “Pausing and then changing direction back toward higher rates quickly, that would, in my opinion, be the most devastating course of action to pursue,” said Griffin. He predicted that the Fed would cut rates slowly as a result.

Have a confidential