US President Donald Trump increased his attacks on Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Monday, sparking a new market sell-off to begin the week's trading.
In a social media post, Mr Trump called on the Fed to issue “pre-emptive cuts” for the presumed weaker growth and higher inflation forecasts that economists generally believe to be a result of the trade war he started earlier this year.
Mr Trump also said costs were trending downwards, warning “there can be a slowing” of the economy unless Mr Powell – who the President called a "loser" – cuts interest rates.
The Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady at about 4.3 per cent when it meets next month, according to CME Group data.
The US market, meanwhile, already on edge, resumed the sell-off that began after Mr Trump announced a series of tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 971 points – or 2.48 per cent – while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 2.36 per cent and 2.55 per cent, respectively.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, dipped as low as 97.72, its lowest in three years.
Mr Trump escalated his attacks on the Fed chairman last week after Mr Powell suggested the central bank was not hurrying to cut rates amid heightened uncertainty over the effects of the tariffs. Mr Powell added the larger-than-expected tariffs could force the Fed to choose between inflation or weaker growth.
“If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me,” Mr Trump said on the possibility of firing the Fed chairman last week. In a separate social media post, he said Mr Powell's “termination cannot come fast enough".
Those remarks sparked fears that Mr Trump could undermine the independence of the Fed, which makes its monetary policy decisions without political interference.
Removing a Fed chair over a policy dispute would probably cause more market turmoil as investor confidence rests on the central bank's ability to make its decisions independently rather than for short-term political gains.
Those fears have also bled into the bond market, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury climbing 8 basis points at 4.409 per cent.
Whether a president can fire a Fed chair remains an open question, and one that has never been tested. Mr Powell has remained adamant that the President does not have the authority to fire him. He also said he would not leave if asked.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Friday said the Trump administration was studying whether firing Mr Powell was an option.
“That would undermine the credibility of the Fed,” Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee told CBS on Sunday.
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
CREW
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
