A longtime lobbyist said Trump’s ongoing threats on Powell, while backing off of firing him, are a combination of “testing the waters to see how bad the backlash would be, his strong desire to get rates lowered [and] him working the refs — hoping to bully Powell and future chairs.”

Nobody else in your inner circle is going to tell you the truth for fear of recrimination. But I would pivot if I were in your shoes, sir

Donald Trump has been bullying Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell—calling him “too late,” insulting his intelligence, and trying to gin up a case that Powell spent too much on renovations of the agency’s headquarters as a pretext for firing him.

Traders believes that Trump’s campaign against the Fed could steepen the yield curve, and they are betting on a widening spread between short- and long-duration Treasuries.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank consider the president's removal of Fed chief Jerome Powell "one of the largest under-priced event risks over the coming months."

President Trump has become more hostile to the Federal Reserve’s chair. Markets aren’t worried yet, but some on Wall Street are getting more concerned.

As Trump toured the central bank’s Washington headquarters, the president slapped its chief, Jay Powell, on the back and said, “I would love it if he lowered interest rates.” Powell’s awkward laugh in the moments that followed underscores how Trump is publicly challenging the Fed in a way never seen in the history of the central bank.