CHINA/FEDERAL RESERVE/STEVE MNUCHIN/TRADE WAR/TREASURY/ TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin isn’t buying the argument that the Federal Reserve triggered Wednesday’s [10-10-18] steep fall in US stocks…After US stocks suffered their worst sell-off in eight months on Wednesday, President Donald Trump blasted the Fed as ‘crazy’ for continuing to raise interest rates this year…Under Chairman Jerome Powell, the Fed has been raising rates to try to prevent the US economy from overheating as it benefits from one of the longest expansions on record. US stocks, which recently hit new all-time highs, are now in the midst of an October slump, sliding sharply because investors are worried about rising interest rates. A spike in yields on US 10-Year Treasury bonds, which are hovering at a more-than-seven-year high, has investors wondering if the near-decade-old bull market in stocks may finally be ending. Analysts have suggested that stocks are also hurting from fears over the slowdown in China’s economy and its escalating trade war with the United States. Mnuchin declined to speculate on why investors might be becoming more anxious about the clash with Beijing.”
-Donna Borak, “Mnuchin isn’t blaming the Fed for the market rout, says it’s a ‘normal correction’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 10, 2018 3:52 am