Markets Join Trump in Pleading for the Fed to Stop
They are truly fighting the central bank for the first time since early 2017.
Ready to cry uncle.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was a lot more popular when stocks were setting records.
Now he and other Fed officials can’t seem to find friends anywhere they turn. President Donald Trump has lambasted the central bank several times since the S&P 500 peaked on Sept. 21. Investors questioned Powell when he remarked in early October that “we’re a long way from neutral at this point, probably,” pushing Treasury yields to the highest levels in years and sending equity prices tumbling. Bond traders held out a bit longer, pricing in two full 2019 interest-rate increases as recently as Nov. 8. They have since lost faith, too, seeing only one more move at best in the next 12 months.