Senate Confirms Obama Nominees For Fed Board   The New York Times  says the US Senate voted by a wide-margin Thursday to confirm President Obama's nominees for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Harvard economist Jeremy Stein and investment banker Jerome Powell. The confirmation "overcame Republican objections and brought the seven-member board to full strength for the first time since 2006, before the economic crisis." Neither governor "has widely known views on the central policy questions facing the Fed: whether to take more action to reduce unemployment or whether the economy is already at risk of a dangerous acceleration of inflation." In a statement, the White House thanked lawmakers, saying: "Today's broad bipartisan vote in the Senate reflects their deep knowledge of economic and monetary policy, as well as their distinguished backgrounds and unique experience."

        The Wall Street Journal  quotes confirmation critic Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R) as saying on the Senate floor Thursday: Stein and Powell "clearly also support the current direction of Chairman [Ben] Bernanke and the Fed and for that reason I cannot support the nominations." Similarly, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (R) added on the Senate floor, "These two nominees candidly do not represent the kind of more hawkish position that I would like to see the Federal Reserve take where they're concerned about price stability over the long haul."

        For its part, the Financial Times  notes Sens. Vitter and Corker expressed concern about Stein and Powell backing Chairman Bernanke's low-interest rate policies that they fear could result in inflation.

        Politico  says the confirmation process was facilitated by the bipartisan nature of President Obama's nominees.

Dimon To Appear Before Senate Banking Committee In June   The AP  reports Senate Banking Chairman South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson (D) has invited JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon "to testify about the loss at the nation's largest bank," and bank spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli "says Dimon will accept the invitation." Bloomberg News  reports Zuccarelli said, "As always, we will continue to be open and transparent with our regulators and Congress."

        McClatchy  reports Johnson said Dimon "would be called to testify sometime in June" after the committee "has completed two hearings on the slow pace with which banking regulators are drawing up rules" required by the Dodd-Frank act.

        The Wall Street Journal  meanwhile, reports that JPMorgan had no treasurer, and a relatively inexperienced risk management chief, during the period that the trades that resulted in more than $2 billion in losses were made.