Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday tried to calm consumers by consulting with executives at the nation’s six largest banks after markets reached disastrous lows, in part because of reports that President Trump has spoken with advisers about firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Mnuchin reportedly phoned the leaders of J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America, from a resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he is vacationing with his children amid a partial government shutdown. The treasury secretary released a statement claiming that each bank had “ample liquidity” to lend to consumers and boasting of “strong economic growth in the U.S. economy with robust activity from consumers and business.” “With the government shutdown, Treasury will have critical employees to maintain its core operations at Fiscal Services, IRS, and other critical functions within the department,” he wrote. Mnuchin will also hold a call Monday with the president’s working group on financial markets “to discuss coordination efforts to assure normal market operations,” according to the statement.
