Having gone after the entire GOP primary playing field, earlier today during a press conference held in his very own Trump Tower, Donald Trump decided to target his ire at a more worth adversary:US monetary policy in general, and Janet Yellen in particular.
This is what he said:
"The question is should the Fed raise rates? They are not raising them because Obama has asked them not to raise them. In my opinion, he wants to get out of office, because we're in a bubble and when those rates are raised, a lot of bad things are going to happen. In my opinion Janet Yellen is highly political and she's not raising rates for a very specific reason: because Obama told her not to because he wants to be out playing golf in a year from now and he wants to be doing other things and he doesn't want to see a big bubble burst during his administration.
The clip:
Naturally, the White House promptly denied the allegations: "Of course not," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said when asked about the remarks by Trump. "This administration goes to great lengths to ensure that the Federal Reserve" can make monetary policies that are in the best interests of the country and the economy, Earnest said.
This was to be expected.
Then again, considering today's rally which at least on the surface appears to be on a shift in sentiment (even if it is merely a continuation of the relentless short squeeze seen for the past month), now that a rate hike is again perceived bullish (which clearly does not explain why stocks soared on bearish economic data in October and hopes of rate hike delays) because "what would the Fed know if it is hiking that the market does not", Yellen just may surprise Trump and Obama with a rate hike in just over one month.
Which leads to the question: is Yellen as political as Trump claims, and if so, will Obama risk a market drop just in time for a presidential election that makes his golf game far less pleasant a year from now?
