Summers Withdraws

At 6:32 CDT, Dow futures are up 179 points. 

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Lawrence Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary, called President Barack Obama Sunday to say he is pulling out of the contest to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

"I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the Administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation's ongoing economic recovery," Mr. Summers said in a letter to the president that followed the telephone call.

This is most interesting:

"The biggest chunk of the problem was Syria and leaving him out there that long," the former official added. "You just can't do that."

It will be interesting to learn which senator phoned Mr Summers before the latter's phone call to Mr Obama.