As expected, noted rates and FX strategist Donald J. Trump (of 1600 Penn. Asset Management fame) was out swiftly with a hot take on the September ECB meeting, which found Mario Draghi looking to go out with a bang.
“European Central Bank, acting quickly, Cuts Rates 10 Basis Points”, Trump said, dragging his 64 million Twitter followers even deeper into the global monetary policy debate.
“They are trying, and succeeding, in depreciating the Euro against the VERY strong Dollar, hurting US exports”, Trump continued. Earlier this year, following Draghi’s “Whatever it takes 2.0” moment in Sintra, the US president let loose on “Mario D.” in an infamous social media harangue.
Read more: Trump Loses Mind As Draghi Tips Rate Cuts, Says ‘Mario D.’ Is A Cheater
The dollar surged on Thursday following the ECB statement, although the proximate cause of the euro’s move lower likely wasn’t the 10bp rate cut from Draghi, but rather the open-ended nature of the forward guidance.
On August 30, Trump lamented that the euro was “dropping against the dollar like crazy”. A little over an hour later, the euro plunged amid options expiries, month-end flows and thin summer markets.
Trump on Thursday again called for the Fed to engage in competitive easing. “And the Fed sits, and sits, and sits”, he seethed, minutes after the ECB statement hit. “[Europe] gets paid to borrow money, while we are paying interest!”, he went on to shout, into the digital void.
On Wednesday, the president called Jerome Powell a “bonehead” in the course of demanding the Fed cut rates into negative territory.
Who knows, maybe Trump can convince Draghi to take the Fed job once he’s a free agent.
Then again, Draghi expressed concern about Trump’s verbal intervention in monetary policy back in April. “Central banking independence is very important… because the whole credibility of monetary policy hinges on that”, Draghi said, adding that within their mandate, “central banks ought to be left free to choose what is the best way to comply with that mandate.”
Read more: Trump Demands Negative Rates, Calls Jay Powell, Fed ‘Boneheads’ In Wild Screed
Are market expectations for Fed Sept action to be -25 bp and no signif change to QE/runoff?
So that is the nickname the Trump marketing department has settled on. You had been wondering.
Better, I suppose, than “Mushroom Dick.”