Powell vs. Trump: is the interest rate cut premature?

Hardly any interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve has caused as much excitement recently as the current one, and for good reason. The Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate as expected, but the circumstances surrounding this decision made it particularly significant: While the Fed took a wait-and-see approach this year, lagging behind the ECB, it has recently been under massive political pressure from US President Donald Trump. Personal attacks on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and concerns about the central bank's independence raise the question of whether the latest rate cut is actually economic sence or whether monetary policy is increasingly becoming a plaything of political interests.