US President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will hold a news conference at 1:30pm tomorrow, 7.30pm Irish time, after meeting with their team of economic advisers to discuss the transition to the White House.
The meeting and news conference were announced in a statement by the Obama-Biden press office.
The statement said Mr Obama and Mr Biden would be joined by economic advisers, including former Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson and several others.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett will participate via phone.
Mr Obama, who will inherit the worst financial crisis in decades when he takes office, is expected to announce his pick for some key economic jobs soon and may reveal his treasury secretary selection as early as today.
Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers and former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker are among those being considered for the treasury post.
US Republican Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a Democratic lawmaker known for this hard-charging style, has accepted the job of leading Obama's White House staff.
The 48-year-old congressman has close ties to Obama's inner circle and is a fellow Chicagoan. He accepted the job this afternoon, which makes him the gatekeeper to the Oval Office.
Commenting on the appointment Mr Obama said: "I announce this appointment first because the Chief of Staff is central to the ability of a President and Administration to accomplish an agenda."
"And no one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel," he added.
The chief of staff position is a top White House appointee who serves as one of the closest advisers to the president and typically can decide who gains access to the president, while also developing administration policies.
Mr Obama has already launched a transition team that was working fast to fill the next administration's economic and homeland security teams, according to one of the Democratic sources.
Heading up that team are Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of Mr Obama, Pete Rouse, his US Senate chief of staff and John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton.
Amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Mr Obama wants to move quickly to be prepared to handle a probable recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Obama's office is maintaining secrecy on the transition, which is occurring in the 11 weeks before January 20th, when he will be sworn in as successor to president George W. Bush.
Whoever gets the Treasury job will be faced with guiding the $700 billion economic bailout package and the regulatory reform needed to prevent a repeat of the current crisis.
In addition to Mr Geithner, Mr Summers and Mr Volcker, the short list for Treasury includes former Clinton administration adviser Laura Tyson.
Mr Obama could soon announce other economic posts as well. Likely to end up in top advisory roles are University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman, a former economic adviser to Bill Clinton.
For secretary of state, Massachusetts Democratic senator John Kerry, former diplomat Richard Holbrooke, outgoing Republican senator Chuck Hagel and former Georgia Democratic senator Sam Nunn are among the names in the mix.
James Steinberg, a former Clinton adviser, is a top contender for national security adviser. Susan Rice, another former Clinton aide, could be considered for that job or another senior post.
Mr Obama also has relied heavily on three foreign policy experts on his campaign staff who are likely to end up in the White House or the State Department. They are Mark Lippert and Denis McDonough, both former Senate aides, and Ben Rhodes, Mr Obama's foreign policy speechwriter.
With wars under way in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama might consider keeping Robert Gates on as secretary of Defense. He might also consider tapping former Navy secretary Richard Danzig, a close adviser.
Reuters