Fed Does the Right Thing, Ignores Trump
Despite protests from the president and the market, central bankers raised rates again.
Jerome Powell is not having it.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergJerome Powell is probably not getting a Christmas card from the White House this year.
Powell’s Federal Reserve raised its key policy interest rate today, defying the loud and frequent complaints of the stock market and President Donald Trump. Stocks tumbled on the news, and one imagines a presidential tweet is being drafted as we speak. But setting aside the central bank’s need to protect its independence from Trump, the rate increase was simply the right move for the economy, Bloomberg’s editorial board wrote before the decision. Though inflation is mostly in check right now, the labor market is running hot, and rates are still low enough to keep stimulating the economy.