Kudlow: Trump’s Fed rate-hike warnings were ‘spot on’
President Trump was exactly right to warn the Federal Reserve on its pace of interest rate hikes, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said.
“I’m very glad the Federal Reserve is putting their rates on hold," Kudlow told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer on Thursday. “I think the president's warning on that was spot on. Now hopefully the Fed will step aside.”
Trump met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell right before the State of the Union address but did not explore the future of monetary policy, according to Reuters. President Trump has been a vocal critic of the Fed chairman for raising interest rates four times last year.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44782 | -128.65 | -0.29% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 6047.15 | +14.77 | +0.24% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19403.947849 | +185.78 | +0.97% |
The Federal Reserve, at the end of its first two-day policy meeting of 2019, indicated that interest rate hikes were on hold after announcing that it would keep the federal funds rate in a range between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. The decision came on the heels of four rate hikes in 2018, the last one coming in December.
The U.S. stock market extended its gains on the central bank's announcement late last month that it was pausing interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 435 points, marking its best day since Jan. 4. Just a month earlier, the Dow and S&P 500 turned in their worst performances since the Great Depression.
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Stocks,on Thursday traded mixed after news that U.S. retail sales sunk 1.2 percent in December.