Janet Yellen has been confirmed as the next boss of the Federal Reserve and she'll take over at the end of the month. Meanwhile, Jack Lew is in Paris today as part of a European tour. IG Market Analyst Alastair McCaig says Yellen's post breaks the glass ceiling and expects that there will be tough words between Lew and Moscovici in France.

SHOWS: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (JANUARY 6, 2014)

1. IG, MARKET ANALYST, ALASTAIR MCCAIG, SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING ALASTAIR MCCAIG: 'Very quick comment on Janet Yellen, I know we've been talking about it for a long time. It's officially happening now. It breaks the glass ceiling, right?'

MCCAIG: 'Yeah, it certainly does. I think it's a step in the right direction for equality I guess in that regard. It'd been well-signed and posted. In fact, it would have been quite a major shock if it hadn't been officially rubber-stamped last night so no surprises there, certainly nothing that the market would have taken as a shock. One thing that, comment that she did make that may be worth mentioning is the fact that she did say it's not the Fed's job to stabilize equity markets. It's just a shot across the bows maybe for equity markets out there. '

JOURNALIST: 'Okay. Jack Lew, how significant is his decision to visit France first, do you think?'

MCCAIG: 'Well I guess European tour, it probably would have been on his agenda to do anyway. Certainly in the tail end of last year, the Bank of France said, made some optimistic sounding expectations looking forward. None of the economic data we've seen out of France in the last quarter or so quite frankly has done anything to back this up. And I guess it really is beginning to be the major issue that the EU is going to have to face in the not too distant future. Bearing in mind that Mr. Hollande is the most unpopular French president in the last 60 years is quite some statement when you consider some of the competition he might have been up against for that side too.'

JOURNALIST: 'Yeah. But can you imagine tough words between Lew and Hollande today? No, or Moscovici's meeting, isn't he?'

MCCAIG: 'Well look here, I think when it comes to France, it's always the union's and the mentality of their workforce and labor forces that come into the equation. And yes, I do imagine that's the sort of conversations they'll be having, yes.'

JOURNALIST: 'German unemployment numbers out a little bit later; euro zone inflation numbers out a little bit later. Let's start with inflation, what sort of number could prompt the ECB to move again?'

MCCAIG: 'Difficult to say exactly, but I think the ECB are going to have to see. It really crashed to be forced into action. I think when they changed the interest rate decision, that was maybe a sort of preemptive strike if you will and something to shock the market into believing they'll be actions, not just words, in the future. When it comes to their options, they've said there was a range of them but they haven't really outlined what those are. I think one glimmer of optimism maybe is the fact that we've seen German retail, monthly retail sales figures come out up 1.5%, much better than expected. And maybe the Germans are moving from that sort of positive sentiment to actual actions and spending some cash which of course should be helpful.'

JOURNALIST: 'Which of course Jack Lew would be happy about, right?'

MCCAIG: 'He certainly will be. That's exactly the sort of actions he'd be looking to see.'