(Bloomberg) -- US equity futures dropped after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed recent declines as healthy, reinforcing the view that the Trump administration is unlikely to step in to boost markets.

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S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts fell 0.6%. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index was little changed. A gauge of Asian shares rose as data showed expanding consumption in China.

Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday that he’s not worried by the slump in US stocks, after about $5 trillion was wiped from the S&P 500’s value and the index tumbled into a correction. His comments are a blow to those harboring hopes that President Donald Trump will seek to cushion the market impact of his policies.

“This statement caused some alarm for many Wall Street types who had been counting on Bessent to be the second Trump administration’s ‘voice of reason’ on economic policy, tempering some of the President’s more hawkish instincts on trade and throwing fresh liquidity bones to financial markets whenever they showed signs of wobbling,” said Benjamin Picton, a strategist at Rabobank.

Oil rose for a second day after top importer China said it would take steps to revive consumption by boosting incomes, and the US ordered fresh attacks on the Houthis in Yemen. The dollar and Treasuries were steady.

Investors will turn their focus later this week to a swath of central bank meetings as Trump’s trade salvos test policymakers’ nerves. The Bank of Japan is expected to keep its rate steady after a hike last month and the Bank of England is expected to stand pat.

Meantime, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell faces the task of both assuring investors the economy remains on solid footing and that policymakers are ready to step in with support if required. US retail sales data due later Monday may provide traders with further clues on the outlook for Fed interest rates.

“Trump and his administration have expressed more tolerance for adverse economic fallout from tariffs than we had thought,” Jonathan Millar and colleagues at Barclays Plc wrote. For the Fed, “we expect the median dot to show just one cut this year and two next.”

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Key events this week:

• US retail sales, Empire manufacturing, Monday

• Canada CPI, Tuesday

• US housing starts, import price index, industrial production, Tuesday

• Brazil rate decision, Wednesday

• Eurozone CPI, Wednesday

• Indonesia rate decision, Wednesday

• Japan rate decision, industrial production, Wednesday

• US Fed rate decision, Wednesday

• Australia unemployment, Thursday

• China loan prime rates, Thursday

• South Africa rate decision, Thursday

• Sweden rate decision, Thursday

• Switzerland rate decision, Thursday

• Taiwan, rate decision, export orders, Thursday

• UK rate decision, jobless claims, unemployment, Thursday

• US jobless claims, existing home sales, Thursday

• EU leaders summit in Brussels to discuss defense spending, Thursday

• ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Thursday

• Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks, Thursday

• Chile rate decision, Friday

• Japan CPI, Friday

• Malaysia CPI, Friday

• New York Fed President John Williams speaks, Friday