President Donald Trump said on 30 July that he "hears" Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell plans to lower interest rates at the central bank’s September policy meeting. The remark intensified focus on the outlook for U.S. monetary policy, which had already been under pressure from the White House to ease. Expectations for a cut were turbo-charged after a weaker-than-expected July payrolls report released on 1 August. Traders using CME Group’s FedWatch tool now assign roughly an 80%–89% probability to a quarter-percentage-point reduction at the 17-18 September meeting, up from about 40% before the data. Prediction markets on Polymarket show a similar jump to nearly 80%. The prospect of cheaper borrowing costs lifted risk assets. Early on 4 August, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures rose about 0.4%, the CBOE Volatility Index fell 11% to trade below 20, and a battered dollar steadied after an initial slide. Market commentators said the moves reflected investors’ confidence that the Fed will act to cushion a slowing economy. The labor report marked the third consecutive month of cooling job growth and prompted questions about the durability of the expansion. Investor unease was heightened by Trump’s firing of a senior Bureau of Labor Statistics official shortly after the data were released, a move that critics said could undermine confidence in government statistics.