Trump Says Inflation Is 'Way Down' as Fed's Warsh Warns Prices Remain Too High

US President Donald Trump claimed on Friday (Oct 30) that inflation has fallen sharply under his leadership, a message that sits awkwardly with the Federal Reserve’s own assessment two days earlier that price pressures remain elevated, Benzinga reported.

Trump touts falling prices

In a social media post on Oct 30, Trump said inflation was “way down,” according to a post by The Kobeissi Letter cited by MarketSanity. In the same message, Benzinga reported, the President said incomes for both individuals and companies had risen strongly and declared that a golden age for America had arrived.

Benzinga framed the remarks as coming ahead of the US midterm elections.

Fed says inflation too high

The President’s comments came after the Federal Open Market Committee on Oct 28 kept the federal funds target range unchanged at 3.75% to 4%, stating in its policy statement that inflation remains elevated.

At his press conference that day, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said Americans have been living with inflation above the committee’s objective for close to six years, and stated plainly that “inflation is too high.” He added that energy and related prices had climbed again in recent weeks and said it was the Fed’s responsibility to bring inflation down, according to Benzinga.

Minutes of the Fed’s Sept 15-16 meeting attributed recent price increases to the effects of past tariff hikes, higher energy and input costs linked to geopolitical developments, and rising prices of technology-related consumer goods tied to the AI buildout, the report said.

Markets slide into the weekend

Wall Street ended Friday sharply lower. According to TheStreet, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.06% to 51,785.82, the S&P 500 dropped 1.83% to 7,578.97 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2.84% to 25,442.31, while the Russell 2000 lost 2.03%.

Tech stocks led the decline. Intel shares plunged 29% after a much weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter forecast, marking the chipmaker’s worst day since 1974, and Reddit also fell 29%, TheStreet reported. The S&P 500 technology sector dropped nearly 5% on the day. Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, said “strong AI demand is no longer enough on its own.”

Energy prices also moved higher. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.18% to US$104.20 a barrel and Brent gained 2.50% to US$117.80 following tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, according to TheStreet. The 10-year Treasury yield eased 7.2 basis points to 4.917%.

Despite the Friday selloff, Benzinga noted the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were each up more than 12% year to date as of Thursday, with the Dow up about 8%.

What’s next

In its Oct 28 statement, the Fed said gathering more information would help it decide the policy stance needed to return inflation to its 2% goal in a timely way. TheStreet noted that US stock markets are now shut for the week, with the midterm elections approaching.

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