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President Donald Trump on Friday upped his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling for the central bank’s policymakers to “assume control” of the Fed’s policy decisions.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Chairman Powell’s leadership at the central bank despite having appointed him as the Fed chair in 2017, including recent calls for the Fed to cut interest rates to boost the economy.
He took to his Truth Social platform early Friday morning to urge the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to take control from Powell if he resists immediate interest rate cuts, writing:
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!”
TRUMP HITS POWELL AS ‘TOTAL LOSER’ AFTER FED LEAVES RATES UNCHANGED
The Federal Reserve determines its interest rate policy collectively through a 12-member panel known as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which votes on those decisions with each member – including Powell – receiving one vote.
The FOMC isn’t scheduled to meet again until Sept. 17-18, which would leave an unusual emergency meeting as the only avenue by which policymakers could cut rates ahead of time.
Emergency meetings by the FOMC to cut interest rates are rare and last occurred in March 2020 at the outset of the COVID pandemic.
FEDERAL RESERVE HOLDS KEY INTEREST RATE STEADY FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT MEETING DESPITE TRUMP’S PRESSURE
Trump’s post early Friday morning came on the heels of the FOMC holding interest rates steady for the fifth straight meeting on Wednesday.
Powell cited elevated levels of economic uncertainty related to labor market conditions as well as the impact of tariffs on inflation and consumer prices as the reason for the pause. He added that the economy was in a solid position and the central bank is well positioned to respond to signs of economic deterioration.
FED’S FAVORED INFLATION GAUGE SHOWS CONSUMER PRICES ROSE AGAIN IN JUNE
Thursday saw the release of the Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index – the Fed’s favored inflation gauge – which showed headline PCE inflation rose on an annual basis from 2.3% in May to 2.6% in June, well above the Fed’s 2% longer-run inflation target.
The inflation dampened the market’s outlook for rate cuts at the Fed’s next meeting in September, though that reversed on Friday when the July jobs report came in weaker-than-expected with large downward revisions to what had been solid job gains in the past two months.
US JOB GROWTH COOLED IN JULY AMID ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
The Labor Department’s July jobs report showed the economy added 74,000 jobs last month, well below the 110,000 estimate of economists polled by LSEG.
Furthermore, the report revised the job gains of 144,000 in May and 147,000 in June down to 19,000 and 14,000 respectively. Taken together, those revisions leave employment in those months 258,000 jobs lower than previously reported in what the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted was a “larger than normal” revision.
The unexpectedly weak jobs report prompted the market to reevaluate the odds of a September rate cut, which had declined to just 37.7% on Thursday, according to the CME FedWatch tool, in the wake of the rising inflation data and the FOMC’s decision the prior day.
The probability of a 25-basis-point cut jumped to 78.8% following the soft labor market data as of the tool’s reading in the late morning hours on Friday.
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