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“What do you do if you’re driving in the fog?” Fed Chair Jay Powell asked rhetorically last week. “You slow down.” The economic fog over the economy — and the job market in particular — is multifaceted:
The ongoing government shutdown officially became the longest-ever, with SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans in limbo and flight traffic cut by 10% at 40 major airports. Future Fed rate cuts are in doubt, after last week’s reduction, as inflation remains stubborn and the government’s data blackout obscures economic trends. Last week’s China-US trade detente was a welcome reprieve; and then this week’s Supreme Court oral arguments in a case over the limits of Presidential powers to levy tariffs foreshadowed potential for further ratcheting down. Stock