#labor-market

#labor-market

Democratic members of the US Congress, as part of the Congressional Labor Caucus, penned a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission to "thoroughly review" the $55 billion acquisition of EA. EA confirmed the sale to the Public Investment Fund, or the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners in September, but the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Before the official change of ownership, the 46 House Democrats who signed the letter to the FTC are calling for more scrutiny into the impacts of the deal.

A quiet but consequential shift is underway in the executive labor market. Companies are rethinking how they access senior judgment in the AI era. Rather than defaulting to full-time executive roles that command lofty salaries and long-term overhead, companies are increasingly turning to experienced consultants, strategists, and advisors to provide leadership on a limited and targeted basis. This is not a dilution of leadership, but a recalibration of where experience delivers the most value.

"It's wonderful that the jobs are related to tradecraft, and we're going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steel workers,"

"This reflects the direct effects of the tariffs on manufacturing, transportation and distribution, and ag-related businesses, which are steadily losing jobs, as well as the indirect uncertainty hit to hiring by most other businesses," he explained.

Jobs Friday came and went without much reaction in bond yields because the labor market isn't breaking, nor is it getting stronger. Mortgage rates dropped into the 5s for a short time on Friday as a result of Trump's earlier announcement directing the GSEs to buy $200 billion in mortgage backed securities. The 10-year yield didn't move much after the report.

The frozen job market could be heading into "a moment of reckoning" this year, said Claudia Sahm, the chief economist of New Century Advisors.

The reason mortgage rates are near yearly lows as we end the year is that the labor market has softened and mortgage spreads have returned to near-normal levels. Without these two variables, mortgage rates would have stayed higher for longer. My 2026 forecast is for the 10-year yield to range between 3.80% and 4.60%, and for mortgage rates to range from 5.75% to 6.75%.

Consumers confidence in the economy was shaken in December as Americans grow anxious about high prices and the impact of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 3.8 points to 89.1 in December from November's upwardly revised reading of 92.9. In April, when Trump rolled out his import taxes on U.S. trading partners, the reading was 85.7.

She shared a segment from her show on social media and wrote, If I had to summarize the first year of President Trump's second term in one word, it would be: dignity. From his foreign policy to his domestic policy to his immigration policy, the goal has been restoring the dignity of the forgotten working-class men & women of this country.

After years of wartime splurging, Russian shoppers are tightening their grip on their wallets - a shift that hints at growing stress in the country's economy. Growth in consumer spending has weakened across most regions, the Central Bank of Russia said in a report published Wednesday. In October and November, demand softened even as unemployment remained near historic lows and inflation expectations ticked higher.