Trump again attacks Fed chair, says Powell 'hurting' the housing industry

Trump criticizes Powell ahead of Jackson Hole symposium Fed has held rates steady despite Trump’s calls for cuts Investors will watch Powell’s speech Friday for any hints on next moves WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is “hurting” the housing industry “very badly” and repeated his call for a big cut to U.S. interest rates. “Could somebody please inform Jerome “Too Late” Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly? People can’t get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Inflation is well off the highs seen during the pandemic, but some recent data has given a mixed picture and inflation continues to track above the Fed’s 2% target range. Trump’s latest salvo against Powell comes ahead of the Fed chair’s Friday speech at the annual Jackson Hole central banking symposium, where investors will cleave to his every word for hints on his economic outlook and the likelihood of a coming reduction to short-term borrowing costs. The Fed’s next policy meeting will be held on September 16-17. Investors and economists are betting the Fed will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point next month with perhaps another reduction of similar size to come later in the year, far less than the several percentage points that Trump has called for. Trump’s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has promoted the idea of a half-point rate cut in September. The U.S. central bank cut its policy rate half a percentage point last September, just before the presidential election, and trimmed it another half of a percentage point in the two months immediately following Trump’s electoral victory, but has held it steady in the 4.25%-4.50% range for all of this year. Fed policymakers have worried that Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation and also felt the labor market was strong enough not to require a boost from lower borrowing costs. MIXED INFLATION PICTURE The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in July, with the 12-month rate through July at 2.7%, unchanged from June. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy components, increased 3.1% year-over-year in July. Based in part on that data, economists estimated the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index rose 0.3% in July. That would raise the year-on-year increase to 3% in July. The PCE is a key measure tracked by the Fed against its own 2% inflation target. And despite a moderate rise in overall consumer prices in July, producer and import prices jumped, a suggestion that higher consumer prices could be coming as sellers pass higher costs onto households. The inflation picture comes amid a picture of a possible cooling in the labor market, with declines in monthly job gains, although the unemployment rate, at 4.2%, remains low by historical standards. Trump’s online attacks on the Fed and Powell more typically focus on the cost that higher interest rates mean for U.S. government borrowing. High mortgage rates are a key pain point for potential homebuyers who are also facing high and rising home prices due to a dearth of housing supply. Mortgage rates can be loosely tied to the Fed’s overnight benchmark rate but more closely track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which typically rises and falls based on investors’ expectations for economic growth and inflation. A Fed rate cut does not always mean lower long-term rates – indeed after the Fed cut rates last September, mortgage rates – which had been on the decline – rose sharply. In recent weeks the most popular rate - the 30-year fixed mortgage rate – has drifted downward but – at around 6.7% most recently – is still much higher than it had been before inflation took off after the pandemic shock and the Fed began its rate-hike campaign in 2022.