Hours after the major American stock markets registered their biggest losses since early this year, President Donald Trump again publicly rebuked the Federal Reserve, arguing their move to raise interest rates has caused stock losses and even some uncertainty about future economic growth.
"I think the Fed has gone crazy," the President told reporters after arriving in Erie, Pennsylvania for a campaign rally, as he vented frustration again about decisions to raise interest rates, as Mr. Trump argued those tight-money policies will harm future growth.
It was the second straight day that the President had publicly criticized the Fed's policy decisions.
"The Fed is doing what they think is necessary, but I don’t like what they're doing," the President said on Tuesday. "Because we have inflation really checked, and we have a lot of good things happening."
"I like to see low interest rates," the President said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped almost 832 points on Wednesday, and is down almost 1200 points in the last five trading days.
Before the President made his comments about the Fed, the White House put out a statement to reporters that seemed to be an effort to calm the markets.
"The fundamentals and future of the U.S. economy remain incredibly strong," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"President Trump’s economic policies are the reasons for these historic successes and they have created a solid base for continued growth," Sanders added.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Historically, interest rates are not high, and haven't budged that much in recent years.
The typical rate for a 30-year mortgage remains under 5 percent; those rates were down under 4 percent a number of times over the last 10 years.
That's a far cry from the early 1980's, when mortgage rates remained in double digits for several years, peaking at over 15-18 percent for many home buyers.
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