Labor market weakness, uncertainty about inflation and political pressure will push the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates aggressively in the early part of 2026, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Though markets and Fed officials themselves see only modest easing in the year ahead, Zandi expects the central bank to enact…
Downtown Amsterdam Jacobh | E+ | Getty Images Euro zone inflation stood at 2% in December, flash data from Eurostat showed on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the inflation rate to cool to 2%, in line with the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target. In November, the inflation rate stood at 2.1%. Core inflation,…
A “Join Our Team” flyer at the Appalachian State University internship and job fair in Boone, North Carolina, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. Allison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images Private sector job creation turned positive in December though at a bit softer pace than expected, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Companies added…
Business representatives staff a table at a career fair in Harlem hosted by Assemblymember Jordan Wright on Dec. 10, 2025, in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images Announced layoffs fell sharply in December, hitting a 17-month low in a potential sign that the labor market is at least stabilizing, consulting firm Challenger, Gray…
Maersk and HMM container ships at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.S. trade deficit six months into President Donald Trump‘s tariffs tumbled to its lowest level since mid-2009, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. With exports rising and…
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference to unveil the official Trump Accounts website, at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 17, 2025. Aaron Schwartz | Reuters Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday pressed the administration’s desire for lower interest rates, saying they are the key to future economic growth….
A “Now Hiring” sign at a Cookout fast-food restaurant in Durham, North Carolina, Nov. 25, 2025. Al Drago | Getty Images The U.S. labor market likely showed modest improvement in December, providing some encouragement for the year ahead but nothing to get too excited about. Nonfarm payrolls likely rose by 73,000 last month while the…
The U.S. labor market ended 2025 on a soft note, with job creation in December less than expected, according to a report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 50,000 for the month, lower than the downwardly revised 56,000 in November and short of the Dow Jones estimate for…
A cargo ship sits in New York Harbor on Nov. 19, 2025 in New York City. Spencer Plat | Getty Images The Supreme Court did not rule Friday on the legality of broad tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, leaving markets still awaiting a decision poised to have far-reaching impacts on trade policy and the…
President Donald Trump in a social media post Thursday evening indirectly revealed data from Friday’s market-moving nonfarm payrolls count, an apparent violation of long-standing federal policy on statistical releases. In a Truth Social post around 9 p.m. ET, the president indicated that private sector payrolls had expanded by 654,000 for the full year of 2025,…