Wall Street is suddenly on the defensive with the President

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Wall Street thought it had an ally in Donald Trump. He’s becoming more of an adversary.

The president largely delivered to investors last year, as his administration cut taxes, reduced spending and rolled back an aggressive tariff plan after it spooked markets. Now, after blindsiding Wall Street with a series of rapid-fire moves in the span of a week, Trump appears to be putting it on notice. He has sought to block large investors from buying houses, called for a cap on credit-card rates and announced restrictions on executive pay and stock buybacks.

Then came the most stunning move of all: The Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in what he said was an intimidation tactic to lower interest rates. “Investors thought after the April 2025 tariffs that uncertainty around policy would magically go away," says Brad Golding, a hedge-fund manager at Christofferson Robb & Co. in New York.

“Now, we’re seeing that midterm elections mean more than the profitability of banks and the stability of markets." News of the investigation, which prompted JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and others in the banking world to defend the Fed, was an escalation in Trump’s pressure campaign on the Fed to lower rates. It was a clear message that voters’ concerns about the cost of living, and not investors, are now top of mind. On Monday evening, Trump issued his latest broadside against business on social media, saying he was working with Microsoft and other tech giants to make sure consumers don’t “pick up the tab" for higher electricity prices as heavy investment in artificial intelligence fuels power demand from data centers.