US President Donald Trump says he has “no intention of firing” Jerome Powell after repeatedly criticising the Federal Reserve Chair.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump added he would like Powell to be “a little more active” when it comes to cutting interest rates.
Last week, the president intensified his criticism of Powell, calling him “a major loser”. That sparked a selloff of stocks, bonds and the US dollar, but the markets have since been recovering from those losses.
The Federal Reserve has not cut rates so far this year, after lowering them by a percentage point late last year.
It comes after the director of the National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Friday that Trump was looking into whether it would be possible to sack the Fed chief.
Trump also told reporters he was optimistic about improving trade relations with China.
He said he would be “very nice” in negotiations with Beijing and tariffs would fall if there was a deal, but not to “zero”.
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly said he expected a de-escalation of the trade war with China, describing the current situation as unsustainable.
After the remarks, major stock markets were higher in Wednesday morning trade.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up about 1.9%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed by around 2.4%, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% higher.
On Tuesday, US stocks made gains, with the S&P 500 ending Tuesday’s session up 2.5% and the Nasdaq rose 2.7%.
US stock futures were trading higher overnight as investors appeared to welcome the latest remarks. Futures markets give an indication of how financial markets will perform when they open for trading.
Investors feared that pressure on Powell to lower interest rates could cause prices to rise at a time when trade tariffs are already seen boosting inflation.
Trade tensions between the world’s biggest economies, as well as US tariffs on other countries around the world, have sparked uncertainty about the global economy. Those concerns triggered turmoil in financial markets in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, the forecast for US economic growth for this year was given the biggest downgrade among advanced economies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to uncertainty caused by tariffs.
The sharp increase in tariffs and uncertainty will lead to a “significant slowdown” in global growth, the Fund predicted.