US non-farm payrolls rose 143,000 in January, a sharp slowdown from December’s strong increase. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.0% last month — lowest since May. “The weaker January increase masks what may be a firming trend in hiring,” advises a note from TMC Research, a unit of The Milwaukee Co., a wealth manager. “Using a 3-month average of payrolls to reduce the short-term noise suggests the hiring trend appears to be picking up. Note, too, that the 6-month trend turned above the 1-year change in January for the first time since May.”
President Trump says he’ll impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Canada and Mexico are among the US’s biggest trading parterns for steel and Canada is the biggest source of aluminium metal import to the US.
China’s retaliatory tariffs on a range of US products are due to start today. The China tariffs on US products range from 10% to 15% and affect crude oil, liquefied natural gas, farm machinery and select other products from the US.
President Trump’s social-media company, Trump Media & Technology, has applied for regulatory approval to launch several ETFs. The names of the proposed names include: “Made in America” and “Energy Independence,” are expected to launch later this year, according to Trump media. The president owns a roughly 53% stake in Trump Media, according to a December securities filing.
Sticky inflation will likely be topical as Federal Reserve Chairman testifies in Congress this week (Tuesday and Wednesday). Meanwhile, the January consumer inflation report is due on Wednesday and the year-over-year changes in headline and core CPI are expected to remain steady at 2.9% and 3.2%, respectively, based on Econoday.com’s consensus forecast.
US consumer inflation expectations shot up in February, according to survey data from the University of Michigan. “Many consumers appear worried that high inflation will return within the next year,” says Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director. “This is only the fifth time in 14 years we have seen such a large one-month rise (one percentage point or more) in year-ahead inflation expectations.”
