President Donald Trump on Monday ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, calling him a “major loser” and warning that the U.S. economy could slow down unless interest rates are lowered immediately.
“With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Trump wrote.
Source: Chat GPT Pro
Powell is Trump’s scapegoat
Tariffs are the cause of any potential downturn, not Fed policy.
Source: WSJ
Is FED independence at risk?
“The president’s recent comments about Fed Chair Powell raises risks of threats to Fed independence. Supreme Court precedent would appear to guarantee Powell’s job security. However, that precedent is currently being reviewed. If precedent is overturned and Fed independence is chipped away at, inflation and interest rates could move higher”.
(Michael Feroli, head of policy JPM)
Table shows FED Governors’ terms.
Source: Refinitiv
Solomon says
Seems like some important Generals are rallying….against Trump. David Solomon, Ken Griffin, Paul Singer and Jamie Dimon – not a coincidence.
Source: Bloomberg
Place your bets. Pick your winner
Interestingly, the market is moving towards Trump’s position, now pricing in 4 rate-cuts this year…
Source: Zero Hedge
Flashing orange about the rising odds of a credit crisis
The yield spread between the high-yield corporate bond composite and the 10-year US Treasury bond is widening, flashing orange about the rising odds of a credit crisis resulting from the stress of TTT on the financial system.
Source: Yardeni
Trump 2.0 wealth destruction
Today is the 64th trading day since Inauguration Day back on 1/20, and the S&P 500 is now down 14.5% since President Trump was sworn in for his second term. The 14.5% drop for the S&P is by far the biggest decline the index has seen three months into a Presidential term since 1928. The next closest was a 9% drop for the S&P in the first three months of FDR’s third term back in 1941. (Bespoke)
Source: Daily News 1990 front page
2nd worst in the world
“And what makes the decline in the US stock market even worse during Trump 2.0 is that it’s nearly alone in the red. Equity markets around the world have generally held up well. Below we show the performance of 45 country ETFs traded on US exchanges since Trump’s second term began. The US (SPY) ranks 2nd to last behind only Taiwan (EWT). The average country ETF is actually up 3.2%, so the US (SPY) is underperforming the average country by nearly 18 percentage points!”
Source: Bespoke
Reign of TTT-terror: No place to hide
The correction in the S&P 1500 has been widespread since February 19. How much utilities do you own….?
Source: Yardeni
2 best “American Exceptionalism” friends
American Exceptionalism has been most apparent in the global outperformance of the Magnificent-7 stocks in recent years. Foreign investors rushed into them and bolstered the Dollar Index. So far this year, the bear market in the Magnificent-7 may be the main reason for the weakness in the dollar.
Source: Refinitiv
Oil signals weak global activity
The price of oil remains depressed, signaling weak global economic activity, while at the same time slightly boosting the purchasing power of consumers around the world.
