The Fed can deal with many economic headwinds — bu𒈔t international trade isn’t one of them.
In a highly anticipated speech on Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appeared to take a swipe at Pres🍬ident Trump’s trade war, saying it’s making the Fedꦓ’s job more difficult.
“While monetary policy is a powerful tool that works to support consumer spending, business investment, and public confidence, it cannot provide a settled rulebook for international trade,” Powell said in prepared remarks at a closely watched conference in ♊Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“Fitting trade policy uncertai🅠nty into this framework is a new challenge,” he said.
Powell’s comments come as investors blame growing economic uncertainty🌄 on the trade war — while President Trump blames it o💎n Powell, who he says needs to do more for the economy by slashing interest rates.
”My only question is, who𝕴 is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Cha🐠irman Xi?” Trump tweeted after Powell’s speech.
Powell also said the US economy is in a “favorable place” and that the central bank will “act as appropriate” to keep the current economic expansion on track. He s♎topped short of signalling whether the Fed will cut interest rates again anytime soon.
“As usual, the Fed did NOTHING!” .
But economi🀅sts who studied the speech say they found it reassuring.
“Powell reiterated that the Federal Reserve will continue to work its policy levers to sustain 🍌the economic expansion,” Chris Rupkey,, chief financial economist at MUFG Union B൲ank, told The Post. “This means to us that Fed officials must deliver on the market’s expectations for a second interest rate cut at the September meeting.”
Mark Hamrick�🌃�, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, agreed, saying “the Fed will act as necessary to keep the economic expansion going without going so far as to explicitly guarantee further rate cuts in the coming month.”
Hamrick noted that Powell’s speech did “nothing to dissuade investors from expecting easing, perhaps as soon as the next meeting in mid-Sept𝔉ember.”
Although Trump appointe✤d Powell as Fed Chair, he has taken to publicly bashing ꦅhim after the Fed raised interest rates four times in 2018 — sending markets into turmoil at the end of the year.
Trump has since demanded that the Fed lower rates — by as much as one percentage point — arguing that the US is at a “disadvantage” comp꧟ared to other countries, such as Germany, which is offering a 30-year bond with negative interest rates.
The Fed c🀅ut interest rates by a quarter point last month, the first time 🔜it’s done so since the financial crisis.
But signs of slowing global growth as well as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note creeping below the yield on 2-year note several times over the last week has Wall Street thinking the Fed will have to cut🌌 rates more to prevent a recession.