(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, said he’s not worried about the recent downturn that’s wiped trillions of dollars from the equities market as the US seeks to reshape its economic policies.
“I’ve been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy, they are normal,” Bessent said Sunday on NBC’s Meet The Press. “I‘m not worried about the markets. Over the long term, if we put good tax policy in place, deregulation and energy security, the markets will do great.”
The selloff that took the S&P 500 Index into a correction last week came amid investor concerns about the economic effects of the Trump administration’s moves around tariffs, immigration and cuts to the federal government. While markets staged a strong rebound Friday, stock index futures declined in early Asian trading hours Monday showing sentiment remains fragile.
“We are putting the policies in place that will make the affordability crisis go down, inflation moderate and as we set the sails I am confident that the American people will come our way,” said Bessent, who ran Key Square Group before joining the administration.
As the scope of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy broadens, consumers across the political spectrum have become increasingly concerned that the extra duties will lead to higher costs. Global tariffs are now in place on steel and aluminum and there’s an April 2 deadline pending for even broader levies.
While inflation cooled last month, any sustained pickup in price pressures risks causing households to limit discretionary purchases. US consumer sentiment has dropped amid rising long-term inflation expectations.
In the interview, Bessent said the American Dream isn’t contingent on being able to buy cheap goods from China. Families instead want to afford a home and see their children do better than they are.
“It’s mortgages, it’s cars, it’s real wage gains,” he said.
As questions about the US economy build, Federal Reserve officials are due to meet this week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized earlier this month that the central bank doesn’t need to be in a hurry to cut rates but he will likely be pressed about the uncertainty and risks emerging.
Trump and other members of the administration have downplayed the importance of near-term financial gyrations, with the president earlier this month saying, “I’m not even looking at the stock market.” That’s dismantled previous notions that his government would go to great lengths to please investors.
With the administration’s recent comments showing an apparent lack of concern over the market declines, “in effect, they are saying that there is no Trump Put for stock investors,” Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research wrote in a note Sunday. “At the same time, Fed officials have said that they are in no rush to provide a Fed Put, which in the past often made significant stock market bottoms.”
--With assistance from Kurt Schussler.
(Updates with decline in futures Monday, Yardeni comment)
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