Fed’s Powell opens door to potential rate cuts at Jackson Hole
Investing.com - U.S. job openings rose by more than anticipated in January, while hirings and layoffs were little changed, although murkiness surrounds the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and federal government cutbacks on the labor market.
The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS reports, on Tuesday showed that the number of available positions, a measure of labor demand, increased by 232,000 to 7.740 million on the final day of January.
December’s figure was revised lower to 7.508 million from a prior reading of 7.6 million. Economists had predicted the number would come in at 7.65 million.
A separate indicator last week showed the U.S. job growth picked up in February and the unemployment rate inched marginally higher, but Trump’s trade policy and deep reductions to the size of the federal workforce remained key sources of uncertainty.
Still, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said that the U.S. economy "continues to be in a good place," citing ongoing -- albeit bumpy -- cooling in inflation and expansion in the labor market. Powell noted that a "solid" 191,000 jobs have been added on average since September.
He added that the Fed will keep hunting for clues inside of data points to separate the "signal from the noise" in the broader economic outlook. The central bank is expected to keep interest rates steady at its upcoming policy gathering next week, although wagers have grown that it will cut borrowing costs multiple times before the end of the year.