Almost 90% of Big Money investors approved of the Federal Reserve’s steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on financial markets, and a near-equal percentage gives thumbs up to public health officials’ reaction to the outbreak. President Donald Trump, in contrast, got a vote of confidence for his handling of this crisis from only 48% of poll respondents, while just 45% expressed confidence in Congress’s response.

“[Federal Reserve Chairman] Jerome Powell is a hero,” said Mark Keeling, chief investment officer at BTR Capital Management, a San Francisco–based firm that manages $800 million. He further added, “He didn’t blink, he didn’t hesitate, he went at it with full force, and that has helped. For that reason, we think it seems unlikely that stocks go back to the March low because that was a panic-selling, lack-of-liquidity-driven event.”

Some industry experts think that by rapidly buying hundreds of billions of dollars of securities, the Fed gave price support and likely prevented or merely delayed a tide of defaults in the municipal and corporate bond markets.

While some of the Big Money investors praised the Fed for moving swiftly when it was necessary to do so, they worry about the long-term effects of its support. Extremely low-interest rates never reverted to pre-financial-crisis levels a decade after that fiasco, and the Fed’s balance sheet remained inflated. 

Kevin Grimes, chief investment officer and president of Grimes & Co. in Westborough, Mass said, “I’m a capitalist; I think that if you’re speculating and taking a risk, you should bear the responsibility if that risk doesn’t work out.”