Trump lashes out at 'clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve' after recession signal flashes

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

• President Donald Trump defended his trade wars and attacked the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
• That came after a key recession signal flashed for the first time since the financial crisis, sending financial markets sharply lower.
• Analysts have said trade wars were in part behind recent troubles in financial markets as they raised costs and cast a layer of uncertainty on businesses and consumers.
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President Donald Trump defended his trade wars and attacked the Federal Reserve on Wednesday after a key recession signal flashed for the first time since the financial crisis.

"We are winning, big time, against China. Companies & jobs are fleeing. Prices to us have not gone up, and in some cases, have come down," the president wrote on Twitter. "China is not our problem, though Hong Kong is not helping. Our problem is with the Fed. Raised too much & too fast. Now too slow to cut...."

That came after ominous signals in the bond market set off a sharp drop in financial markets. The yield curve inverted on Wednesday for the first time since 2008 in a development that has historically preceded recessions.

"..Spread is way too much as other countries say THANK YOU to clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve," he wrote. "Germany, and many others, are playing the game! CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE! We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!"

The White House has launched an unprecedented pressure campaign on the independent Federal Reserve over the past year. Trump has repeatedly directed policymakers to lower interest rates and attempted to place political allies at the top of the central bank.

As tariff disputes ignited by his administration threaten to upend the longest expansion on record, that pressure has become increasingly forceful. The Trump administration backtracked on a portion of planned tariffs Tuesday, with the president seeming to concede that tariffs could harm American businesses and consumers.

Analysts have said trade wars were in part behind recent troubles in financial markets as they raise costs and cast a layer of uncertainty on businesses and consumers. Global growth concerns and weaker-than-expected economic data have also sparked worries.

On Wednesday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the Federal Reserve should call an emergency meeting and aggressively cut interest rates.

"The kind of volatility you see today in the inversion of the yield curve is sending yet another signal that the Fed needs to lower," he said on Fox Business Network.

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