Stocks climbed on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he doesn’t plan to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post as central bank leader. They also got a boost as Trump also signaled tariffs on Chinese imports may go down.
The rally came after Trump said late Tuesday that he has “no intention” of firing Powell, whose term as Fed chair will end in May 2026.
The comment is a reversal of sorts for the president, who fired off barbs against Powell as recently as Monday, calling the central bank leader a “major loser” and demanding that interest rates come down. Just last week, Trump said in a Truth Social post that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough.”
Trump also said he’s willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, noting that the current 145% tariff on Chinese imports is “very high, and it won’t be that high. ... No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially. But it won’t be zero.”
Investor sentiment on Tuesday was aided by comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who hinted at the possibility of “de-escalation” in Trump’s trade war with China. “No one thinks the current status quo is sustainable,” Bessent said while speaking with a group of investors on Tuesday at a meeting hosted by JPMorgan Chase, according to a person in the room.
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