Stocks surged on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank could finally lower interest rates following months of pressure from President Donald Trump.
But he bluntly said it would not be because of Trump’s pressure campaign—and in fact would be because the economy is faltering.
Powell also stood up for the Fed’s independence from the executive branch in a carefully worded rebuke of Trump, whose administration stepped up the pressure this week by pushing a criminal investigation into Lisa Cook, the first Black women to be a Fed governor. Bill Pulte, an obscure MAGA functionary who runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency, accused her of mortgage fraud than asked Pam Bondi, Trump’s attorney general, to investigate.
The Fed has refused all year to low