MNI BRIEF: Powell Tells Trump Rate Decisions To Be Data-Based

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told U.S. President Donald Trump in a meeting Wednesday that monetary policy decisions will be based on "non-political analysis," the central bank said in a statement.

“At the President’s invitation, Chair Powell met with the President today at the White House to discuss economic developments including for growth, employment, and inflation,” the statement said. “Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook.”

President Trump has previously threatened to fire Powell for not lowering interest rates but has since backed off those threats, which led to heightened market volatility amid worries about central bank independence.  

Powell told Trump the "FOMC will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis," the Fed release said.