U.S. President Donald Trump once again took jabs at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for raising interest rates, telling political donors at a fundraiser in the Hamptons recently that he hopes the Fed Chair eases up on monetary policy.
Since January 2017 when President Trump took office, the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates fives times versus just once during former president Barack Obama’s tenure. With major stock market indexes closing in on record highs, the prevailing sentiment is that two more interest rate hikes will occur prior to the end of 2018.
“He (Trump) was questioning why it was happening,” one person at the event said, according to a Dow Jones report. “He made a reference to things going so well, so why bother” raising rates.
In an interview with CNBC, U.S. President Donald Trump unsurprisingly made his discontent known publicly, saying he’s “not happy” about the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy moves to raise interest rates. In typical Trump fashion, the president took to social media to say that the U.S. “should not be penalized because we are doing so well.”
For more trends in fixed income, visit the Rising Rates Channel.