US stock indices fell on Thursday amid mounting concerns about the trade war and President Trump’s policies.
US President Donald Trump ordered a full tariff review of US critical minerals imports in another escalation in his trade war with global trade partners.
Otherwise, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that tariffs and the ongoing trade war between the US and the world, especially China, could weaken the Fed’s ability to contain inflation and boost US growth.
Powel expects inflation to rise and growth to slow down, but it’s still not clear which one of them needs more focus amid trade uncertainty.
Powell said the Fed is assuming a wait and see stance until the dust clears before taking a monetary policy decision.
He also expects the economy to move away from full employment and contained inflation targets due to the impact of tariffs.
In response, Trump criticized Powell and said his “termination couldn’t come soon enough”.
On trading, Dow Jones fell 1.6% as of 14:58 GMT, or 613 points to 39,056 points, while S&P 500 shed 0.1% to 5269 points, as NASDAQ slipped 0.4% to 16,233 points.
