With investors bruised by the stock market’s worst week in seven years, President Trump and Treasury chief Steve Mnuchin have spent recent days trying to ease concerns on Wall Street — with the partial government shutdown as an inconvenient backdrop.
Mnuchin tweeted Sunday that he had called the “CEOs of the nation’s six largest banks” in a bid to calm any financial-industry jitters. A Treasury Department statement indicated there was little alarm among them.
“The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending,” the Treasury said in a statement. Mnuchin “also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly,” according to the statement.
With stocks declining last week, Trump was reportedly considering firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, after the U.S. central bank voted Wednesday to increase rates.