(Yahoo!Finance) - Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman reiterated recent calls on Twitter Tuesday morning for the Federal Reserve to intervene aggressively to tame inflation.
Ackman's latest tweet comes a day after a key economic report showed U.S. consumers have the most pessimistic economic outlook in nearly a decade.
“Consumer confidence is weak because of inflation, not because of the economy. Jobs are plentiful and the economy is strong,” the Pershing Square founder said in a tweet. “The @federalreserve needs to act decisively to kill inflation and inflationary expectations. Then confidence can be restored.”
Ackman’s message comes after the Conference Board reported on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index for June fell to 98.7 from 103.2 in May, below economist expectations for a print of 100.
The expectations index, a component of the report that measures consumers' short-term outlook for income growth, the job market, and overall business conditions, fell to 66.4, its lowest reading since March 2013.
Prior to the U.S. central bank's move earlier this month to raise interest rates by 75 basis points, Ackman was a vocal proponent of a steeper hike, even urging the Fed to raise borrowing costs by by 100 basis points or more.
"And yes, 100 bps tomorrow, in July and thereafter would be better," Ackman said in a tweet June 14 ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision. "The sooner the @federalreserve can get to a terminal FF rate and thereafter can begin to ease, the sooner the markets can recover."
By Alexandra Semenova · Reporter
