President Donald Trump on Monday called Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “a major loser” and “Mr. Too Late” for not lowering interest rates — continuing his attacks on the central bank chief even as the stock market plunged, the dollar continued to slide against foreign currencies, and Treasury bond yields rose.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump said that “‘Preemptive Cuts’ in Interest Rates are being called for by many” and that the economy will slow “unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interests rates, NOW.”
By early-afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 1,088 points, or more than 2.7%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 3.2%, and the S&P 500 was off more than 2.8%. The VIX jumped more than 14% as gold futures surged to $3,425 per ounce, and the dollar hit multi-year lows against most major currencies.
Trump ignited a stock market rout last week after he said on Thursday that Powell was “always too late and wrong” about interest rate cuts and should be fired. His anger was sparked by Powell’s own warning a day earlier that Trump’s tariffs were “highly likely” to fuel inflation and suggested the central bank will wait to gauge their effect before lowering rates.
In addition, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, declined to defend Powell in comments on Friday to reporters and said the White House was continuing to study whether it could fire Powell.
The central bank and its governors are meant to be independent of the administration, and global markets are closely watching whether that independence will endure. Powell, originally appointed to the Fed board by President Barack Obama, was appointed to lead the Fed by Trump during his first term, but Trump has since soured on him. Powell has said repeatedly that he will not resign and intends to serve through the end of his term through May 2026.
Trump’s Truth Social post in its entirety said:
“’Preemptive Cuts’ in Interest Rates are being called for by many. With Energy Costs way down, food prices (including Biden’s egg disaster!) substantially lower, and most other ‘things’ trending down, there is virtually No Inflation. 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. Europe has already ‘lowered’ seven times. Powell has always been ‘To Late,’ except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?”