ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERIVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “U.S. President Donald Trump launched a second day of criticism against the Federal Reserve on Thursday [10-11-18], calling its interest rate increases a ‘ridiculous’ policy that was making it more expensive for his administration to finance its escalating deficits…It was his second broadside against the U.S. central bank in the last 24 hours, following a sell-off on Wall Street partly attributed to investors fully adjusting to the central bank’s steady rate increases, and an uptick in particular in yields on long-term U.S. Treasury bonds that are an important, more secure alternative to stock investments. The president’s remarks were quickly qualified by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, who said the Fed was ‘on targeT’ in policies that were responding to a strong economy. The rise in interest rates is ‘a sign of economic health, that is something to be welcome and not feared,’ Kudlow said on CNBC. ‘The president is not dictating policy to the Fed…They are independent. They are going to do what they are going to do.’ Trump himself later told reporters he would not try to oust Powell, Trump’s handpicked successor to former Fed chair Janet Yellen, and a well-regarded insider in moderate Republican circles. He took over just eight months ago, largely continuing policies set in motion by Yellen.”
–Howard Schneider, Jeff Mason, “Trump calls ‘loco’ Federal Reserve ‘too aggressive’,” Reuters, October 11, 2018 5:49 am