President Donald Trump during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, October 1, 2018. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

While President Donald Trump has directed his ire at the Federal Reserve for the recent stock market decline, he also has himself to blame. The president's escalating trade battle with China has added another layer of uncertainty to the nervousness caused by rising interest rates. While the tariffs' impacts have yet to be felt as they have just been implemented, there's fear spreading that when company executives deliver their outlooks soon, the news won't be good. That's compounding fear that already has rippled through the financial world that after years of being dormant, inflation is finally on the prowl. "The earnings are going to come in pretty much in line," said Michael Cohn, chief investment strategist at Atlantis Asset Management. "The forward guidance is going to be much worse than it's been over the last three or four quarters. It's going to be horrific. That's going to flatline the market for the most part."

Trump has gradually ramped up the rhetoric against the U.S. central bank. Back in July, when stocks were on a run higher, Trump said he was "not thrilled" with the Fed's rate hikes and was worried they would derail the economic momentum built up during his time in office. This week, with stocks on a losing streak and the Dow struggling to stay positive for the year, the president called the Fed "loco" and Thursday blamed it for the stock market tanking. That's not completely fair, though, market watchers say. "It's probably the combination" of tariffs and rising rates, said Zachary Karabell, a longtime market pro and former head of global strategy at Envestnet. "Either in and of itself wouldn't necessarily derail what's going on. But the two together, along with midterms, are probably enough to make people somewhat skittish." Indeed, the two items feed into the same inflation narrative. The Fed is raising rates in part simply to normalize after seven years of near-zero rates following the financial crisis, and to stave off inflation even though central bank officials acknowledge that it remains in check for now.