US stocks and dollar slide after Trump attacks Fed chair Powell

US stocks and the dollar plunged again as President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on the US central bank boss calling him “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates.

In a social media post, Trump called on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates “pre-emptively” to help boost the economy, saying Powell had been consistently too slow to respond to economic developments.

“There can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” he wrote.

Trump’s criticism of Powell’s handling of the US economy comes as his own plans for tariffs have driven a stock market sell-off and raised fears of economic recession.

The president’s intensifying clash with Powell, whom he named to lead the Fed during his first term, has added to the market turmoil.

The S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the biggest US companies, fell roughly 2.4% on Monday. It has lost roughly 12% of its value since the start of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.4% and has dropped about 10% so far this year, while the Nasdaq fell more than 2.5% and is down roughly 18% since January.

However, on Tuesday, trading on most major stock indexes in the Asia-Pacific region was subdued. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed around 0.1% lower, and the ASX 200 in Sydney closed around 0.3% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed about 0.3% higher.

In European early trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 stock exchange was marginally lower by about 0.05%, while Germany’s Dax was down around 0.5% and France’s CAC was down 0.6%.

Though the US dollar and US government bonds are typically considered safe assets in times of market turmoil, they have not escaped the recent turbulence.

The dollar index – which measures the strength of the dollar against a set of currencies including the euro – on Monday fell to its lowest level since 2022.

Interest rates on US government debt also continued to rise on Tuesday, as investors demanded higher returns for holding Treasuries.

Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a new all-time record high, breaking the $3,500 (£2,613) per ounce mark as investors seek out so-called “safe haven” assets.

The precious metal is viewed as a safer place to put money during times of economic uncertainty.

Trump’s criticism of Powell dates back to his first term in office, when he also reportedly discussed firing him. Since winning the election, he has urged Powell to lower borrowing costs.

The latest criticism follows Powell’s warnings that Trump’s import taxes were likely to drive up prices and slow the economy.

Trump last week called publicly for Powell to be fired, writing on social media on Thursday: “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough.”

Such a move would be controversial – and legally questionable – given a tradition of independence at the bank.

Powell last year told reporters he did not believe the president had the legal authority to remove him.

But one of Trump’s top economic advisers confirmed that officials were studying the option on Friday, when the stock market in the US was closed for trading.

Trump’s latest comments come as top economic policymakers are gathering in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Christopher Meissner, a professor of economics at University of California, Davis, and who formerly worked with the IMF, told the BBC’s Today programme that before the 1970s there was “significant” political pressure on the Federal Reserve from time to time.

“However, the past 30 or 40 years what we’ve learned is that central bank independence is the key to financial stability and low inflation. And I think this is a major reversal and we have to watch out for it,” he added.

The IMF will publish its latest growth forecasts for individual countries later, and last week it said these projections would include “notable markdowns”.

Mr Meissner said: “They used to say ‘When the US sneezed, the rest of the world caught a cold’. It’ll be really curious to see if that continues.

“However, I think people are expecting a pretty significant downturn in the US in the coming months… and that can’t be good for the rest of the world.”