By Peter Nicholas and Nick Timiraos 

President Trump, speaking at a fundraising event on Friday, said he was unhappy with the Federal Reserve's recent moves to raise interest rates, people in attendance said.

"He was questioning why it was happening," said one person who attended the event on New York's Long Island. "He made a reference to things going so well, so why bother" raising rates.

Mr. Trump voiced concerns that interest-rate increases would cool off an economy that has been growing at a rapid clip.

He told a joke at the event about the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell.

When he was choosing a new Fed chairman last year, the president said he was told by advisers that Mr. Powell liked "cheap money" and yet quickly started raising interest rates.

"That can only happen to Trump," he said ruefully, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Some of Mr. Trump's political advisers worry that if the Fed continues to raise rates, economic growth and job creation might slow just as the 2020 reelection campaign kicks in.

"It's very difficult for reelection in 2020," one person close to the White House said.

A White House spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

(More to Come)

Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2018 12:49 ET (16:49 GMT)

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