
Trump calls Fed Chair Jerome Powell ‘a stupid person' ahead of key interest rate decision
President Donald Trump trashed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday morning ahead of the central bank's meeting wherein it is expected it will keep interest rates the same.
Trump spoke on the South Lawn of the White House as he announced the erection of new flag poles at the White House ahead of a potential war with Iran. During that time, he complained that the economy would be better.
'We're doing well. well as a country, if the Fed would ever lower rates, you know, we'd buy debt for a lot less,' he told reporters. 'Do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and you have to deal? He's not a smart guy.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Federal Reserve holds interest rates, defying Trump's demand to lower them
The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold, but signaled it might make two cuts this year, as Donald Trump continues to break with precedent and demand lower rates. Policymakers at the American central bank lifted their projections for inflation this year, as the US president stands by his controversial tariff plans, and downgraded their estimates for economic growth. Uncertainty has faded, they said, but remains significant. Hours before the central bank announced its latest decision, Trump called its chair, Jerome Powell, 'stupid' and accurately predicted rates would be maintained on Wednesday. 'He's a political guy who's not a smart person, but he's costing the country a fortune,' Trump , whose attacks have raised questions over the Fed's independence, claimed of Powell. The central bank has repeatedly stressed it makes decisions based on economic data, rather than political interventions. Policymakers at the central bank expect inflation to increase by an average rate of 3% this year, according to projections released alongside its latest decision on Wednesday, up from a previous estimate of 2.7% – and highlighting how far the US remains from the Fed's inflation target of 2%. As Trump's aggressive tariffs agenda continues to disrupt the global economy, and raises concern about price growth, officials at the Fed have repeatedly warned of an uncertain road ahead. They expect the US economy to grow by an average rate of 1.4% this year, down from March's 1.7% estimate, which itself was a significant downgrade from the previous 2.1% estimate in December. As the Fed confirmed on Wednesday that a targeted federal funds rate had been held at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% following its rate-setting open market committee's latest two-day meeting, it said: 'Uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished but remains elevated.' A closely watched 'dot plot', which shows policymakers' predictions for the trajectory of rates, indicated that most expect to cut rates at least twice in 2025, with further cuts in future years. 'Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace,' the committee said in a statement. 'The unemployment rate remains low, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.' The central bank has so far defied Trump's attacks on its decisions, holding firm on its independence from the White House. After Powell spoke with the US president last month, the Fed said that he had made clear that its actions 'will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook'. Wall Street rose after the announcement on Wednesday. The benchmark S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, while the Dow Jones industrial average also increased 0.2%.


Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Waymo brings its cars to NYC for testing, applies for autonomous driving permit
June 18 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab self-driving unit Waymo said on Wednesday its vehicles will be back in New York City next month for autonomous testing, as it continues to scale operations in the U.S. The race to deploy robotaxis is picking up pace as Waymo expands testing and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab prepares to begin limited trials of its autonomous taxi service with as few as 10 cars this weekend — a sign of growing momentum in self-driving vehicle development. Waymo has applied for a permit from the New York City Department of Transportation to operate autonomously, with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan. "This is not an expansion, but we have every intention of bringing our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city in the future," Waymo said. Waymo will start by manually driving in the city until it gets the permit. If granted, it would be New York City's first testing deployment of autonomous vehicles. New York State law does not currently allow operating a vehicle with no human behind the wheel and Waymo said it is advocating for a change to the law. The company had previously brought its cars to Manhattan in 2021 for manual driving, data collection and testing. Waymo on Tuesday said it will expand into more areas of the San Francisco peninsula and parts of Silicon Valley. Last month, it received approval from California to expand operations. As the only U.S. firm to run robotaxi services with paying passengers, Waymo has more than 1,500 vehicles, running over 250,000 rides a week across San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, Phoenix in Arizona and Austin in Texas.

Leader Live
15 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Israeli warplanes hammer Iranian capital
Ten missiles were intercepted by Israel overnight as Iran's retaliatory barrages diminished. Iran, meanwhile, has warned that any US intervention in the conflict would risk 'all-out war in the region'. Israel is carrying out blistering attacks on Iran's nuclear programme and military sites that began with a surprise bombardment on Friday. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 585 people, including 239 civilians, have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded. Shops have been closed across Iran's capital, Tehran, including in its famed Grand Bazaar, as people wait in queues for petrol and pack roads leading out of the city to escape the onslaught. Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones in retaliatory strikes that have killed at least 24 people in Israel and injured hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage, and air raid sirens have repeatedly forced Israelis to run for shelter. Iran has fired fewer missiles in each of its barrages, with just a handful launched on Wednesday. It has not explained the decline, but it comes after Israel targeted many Iranian launchers. All eyes are on Washington, where US President Donald Trump initially distanced himself from the Israeli attacks but has hinted at greater American involvement, saying he wants something 'much bigger' than a ceasefire. The US has also sent more warplanes to the region. The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said it had identified 239 of those killed in Israeli strikes as civilians and 126 as security personnel. The group, which also provided detailed casualty figures during 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, cross-checks local reports against a network of sources it has developed in the country. Iran has not been publishing regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update, issued Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1,277 others wounded. A major explosion could be heard around 5am local time (2.30am BST) in Tehran on Wednesday morning, following earlier explosions during the night. Authorities in Iran offered no acknowledgement of the attacks, which has become increasingly common as the Israeli air strikes have intensified. At least one strike appeared to target Tehran's eastern Hakimiyeh area, where the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has an academy. We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy. — (@khamenei_ir) June 17, 2025 Israel says it launched the strikes to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, after talks between the United States and Iran over a diplomatic resolution had made little visible progress over two months but were still ongoing. Mr Trump has said Israel's campaign came after a 60-day window he set for the talks. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, though it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. US intelligence agencies have said they did not believe Iran was actively pursuing the bomb. As the conflict entered a sixth day, neither side showed signs of backing down. 'We will show the Zionists no mercy,' Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a post on his official X account. 'A storm is passing over Tehran,' Israeli defence minister Israel Katz posted. 'This is how dictatorships collapse.'