With Fed in the crosshairs, Trump the ‘everywhere’ president tests the ‘everything’ rally

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The dollar fell the most in three weeks in overnight trading, while Treasury bond yields retreated and gold soared to a fresh record high as global markets reacted to a U.S.

Justice Department probe into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and a new series of interventions from President Donald Trump. Powell said the central bank received notice of grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department related to his testimony to congressional lawmakers regarding the unfinished refurbishment of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.

Powell forcefully suggested a political motive behind the probe, which comes just four months ahead of the end of his eight-year term as Fed chair in May and extends a series of attacks on central bank policy from the White House. Trump has yet to formally decide on Powell’s replacement.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president," Powell said late Sunday in an unprecedented video statement. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation," he added.

Trump claimed not to know “anything about" the Justice Department investigation during an interview Sunday with NBC, but he has made many direct statements regarding the Fed’s rebuilding project and repeated his threat to sue the chairman for “gross incompetence" earlier this month. The Fed is merely the latest in a flurry of targets of the president’s ire of late, following statements