Dow drops more than 1,000 points as Trump renews criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

[ad_1] Shares fell sharply on Monday as Wall Road returned from a shortened buying and selling week and President Trump renewed his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, branding him as a "main loser."

The S&P 500 fell 158 factors, or 3%, to five,124 in late afternoon buying and selling, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Common tumbled 1,159 factors, or 3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank much more sharply, dropping 3.2%.

Shares have been down as buyers grapple with ongoing tariff uncertainty and await the discharge of U.S. tech firms earnings this week.

International exercise remained mild heading into Monday as portion of markets around the globe – together with Europe together with Hong Kong and Australia – stay closed for Easter Monday.

Exterior of the inventory market, the greenback index slid to its lowest degree since 2022 weakening the foreign money's worth, whereas gold reached one other report excessive. These actions, coupled with the rise of long-term treasury yields, sign buyers are more and more involved in regards to the security of U.S. property.

Strain on Powell The shaky begin within the U.S. inventory market on Monday follows one other unstable week within the inventory market as buyers weigh how the Trump administration's tariffs and a possible Fed shakeup would possibly influence financial exercise.

"However the latest aid for digital items, the tariffs on China are resulting in a standstill in some commerce exercise," mentioned Tim Duy, chief economist at SGH Macro Advisors, in a analysis word.

Shares additionally took successful final Wednesday after Fed chief Powell warned that tariffs might drive up U.S. inflation and stymie development.

President Trump and his staff have floated the concept of firing Powell, who Mr. Trump tapped to guide the central financial institution throughout his first time period in 2017. Though many authorized consultants — and Powell himself — say the president lacks authority to fireside a Fed chief, Mr. Trump's fierce criticism has fueled investor considerations that the White Home might defy norms and search to switch the central financial institution chief.

Referring to Powell, Mr. Trump mentioned on Reality Social on Monday that the economic system might decelerate "except Mr. Too Late, a significant loser, lowers rates of interest, NOW."

Mr. Trump has put growing stress on Powell to decrease the Fed's benchmark rate of interest, which might spur financial development but additionally threat boosting inflation.

"The issue is that Powell's time period nonetheless has greater than a yr to go whereas Trump's tariffs have not even proven up within the information, which suggests the battle between the Fed and White Home might get rather a lot worse within the coming months," Adam Crisafulli, head of Important Information, mentioned in a report.

Austan Goolsbee says he hopes there isn't any scenario the place "financial independence is questioned"

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A landmark Supreme Courtroom Ruling from 1935 upholds the unbiased authority of the Fed and would make it troublesome to fireside Powell earlier than his time period concludes on Could 15, 2026. However that hasn't stopped Mr. Trump from taking purpose at Powell, who has stood agency towards chopping rates of interest till the Fed has extra financial information on how tariffs will have an effect on the economic system.

"I strongly hope that we don't transfer ourselves into an surroundings the place financial independence is questioned," Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee informed CBS Information' senior White Home correspondent Weijia Jiang on Face the Nation yesterday. "As a result of that will undermine the credibility of the Fed."

Tech within the highlight Buyers this week will even give attention to company earnings from main know-how gamers. These firms, recognized informally because the "Magnificent Seven," embrace Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Fb-parent Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla.

The large tech group's shares whipsawed in latest weeks after the Trump administration imposed reciprocal tariffs after which backtracked, later saying workplace high-tech merchandise can be exempt, if solely briefly.

Since Mr. Trump's inauguration on January 20, the Magnificent Seven's mixed market worth has dropped by $3.8 trillion, or 22%, as of April 20.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

Extra from CBS Information

Mary Cunningham

Mary Cunningham is a information affiliate at CBS Information, based mostly in New York. She has labored on each the published facet, with CBS Information 24/7 streaming, and the digital facet, writing tales for CBSNews.com. Her subsequent project is working with the "60 Minutes" staff.