US Senate confirms new Federal Reserve chair

WASHINGTON - The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next head of the central bank, succeeding Janet Yellen, a move likely to provide continuity in US monetary policy with the economy growing now for nine years straight.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 84-13 to approve the 64-year-old lawyer to a four-year term as Fed chair beginning early next month.

It was the most lopsided of recent Fed chair votes, signaling both Powell's bipartisan appeal and the ebbing of some of the tensions raised by the central bank's aggressive response to the 2007-09 financial crisis and recession.