US President Donald Trump says a share market sell-off was in fact a long-awaited "correction" and the Federal Reserve, which has been raising US interest rates, has gone "crazy".
Trump's use of the word "correction" to describe the sell-off could be significant. A share market correction is defined as a fall of at least 10 per cent from the high point of the past 52 weeks.
"Actually it's a correction that we've been waiting for a long time but I really disagree with what the Fed is doing," Trump told reporters before a political rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
"I think the Fed has gone crazy," Trump said.
US stocks tumbled on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow marking their biggest daily declines since February 8 and technology stocks were at the centre of the carnage as rising US Treasury yields sent investors fleeing from risky assets.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.15 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 3.29 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.08 per cent.
US long-dated Treasury yields rose again in extension of a trend during the past few weeks fuelled by solid US economic data that reinforced expectations of multiple interest rate hikes in the next 12 months.
