Tag: Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

President Donald Trump lashed out at the Federal Reserve on Monday after administration officials spent the weekend trying to assure the public and financial markets that Jerome Powell’s job as Fed chairman was safe. “The only problem our economy has is the Fed,” the president tweeted Monday. “They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch — he can’t putt!” On Wall Street, stocks had already been down but intensified their fall after Trump’s tweet. Markets are facing their worst month in a decade over fears about a U.S. trade war with China, a slowing global economy and chaos in the Trump White House. By the close of a holiday-shortened trading session Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had sunk 653 points for the day — 2.9 percent. It ensures that central bankers can make politically unpopular decisions, such as fighting high inflation in the 1980s or rescuing banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, a senior Republican on the Banking Committee, has cautioned against removing Powell. Fed officials voted unanimously to increase rates last week. The president expressed his displeasure Monday with the Fed after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had tweeted on Saturday that Powell’s job was safe.