Talk of the Town
(NEW YORK) — Tech giant Amazon said on Wednesday it planned to cut about 16,000 employees as it seeks to “strengthen” its business by reducing “layers” and “bureaucracy” within its workforce.
“The reductions we are making today will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon, and we’re again working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted,” Beth Galetti, a senior vice president, said in an email to staff, according to the company.
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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. economy slowed more than expected over the final months of 2025, federal government data on Friday showed.
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter in the government’s initial estimate, marking a cooldown from blistering-hot 4.4% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
The slowdown at the end of last year stemmed in part from a decline in the pace of consumer spending, the U.S. Commerce Department said.
The GDP report marks the latest distress signal for U.S. shoppers, who account for about two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity.
Retail sales data last week showed flat performance in December, suggesting possible weakness for shoppers during the holiday season. Meanwhile, credit card debt levels have climbed and consumer sentiment has remained glum.
The fresh reading of gross domestic product on Friday provided a key measure of the country’s economic health as policymakers continued to grapple with an ongoing bout of elevated inflation and sluggish hiring.
Inflation cooled in January, dropping price increases to their lowest level in nine months. While the pullback defied fears of a tariff-induced rise in overall costs, inflation continued to hover above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Meanwhile, a recent jobs report showed stronger-than-expected hiring in January, even though an updated estimate released at the same time indicated a near-paralysis of the labor market last year.
A boost in consumer spending helped propel the surge in GDP over three months ending in September, the U.S. Commerce Department previously said.
Over the past year, hiring has slowed dramatically while inflation has remained elevated, risking an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.” Those conditions have put the Federal Reserve in a difficult position.
The central bank must balance a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment. To address pressure on both of its goals, the Fed primarily holds a single tool: interest rates.
The strain on both sides of the Fed’s mandate presents a “challenging situation” for the central bank, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in December.
The Fed held interest rates steady at its most recent meeting in January, ending a string of three consecutive quarter-point rate cuts.
Futures markets expect two quarter-point interest rate cuts this year, forecasting the first in June and a second in the fall, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
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(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest adjustment of interest rates on Wednesday, potentially slashing borrowing costs for the third time this year in an effort to boost sluggish hiring.
Top officials at the Federal Reserve have displayed a rare degree of public disagreement over a possible interest rate cut. Inflation has picked up in recent months alongside the hiring slowdown, posing a risk of an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.”
The Fed is stuck in a bind, since the central bank must balance a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment. To address pressure on both of its goals, the Fed primarily holds a single tool: interest rates.
If the Fed holds interest rates steady as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation, it risks a deeper slowdown of the labor market. On the other hand, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a hiring slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.
“We have one tool,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., in October. “You can’t address both of those at once.”
Lately, sentiment shifted in favor of a rate cut as some influential central bankers voiced openness toward the move, futures markets showed.
The chances of a quarter-point interest rate cut stand at about 87%, surging from a level as low as 30% last month, according to CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
The prospects appeared to move in response to a murky jobs report and public statements from two allies of Powell on the committee charged with setting rates.
Last month, a jobs report for September sent mixed signals about the labor market. Employers added far more workers than expected in September, though hiring fell short of a breakneck clip. Meanwhile the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, a low figure by historical standards but the highest recorded since October 2021.
New York Fed President John Williams, who is often in lockstep with Powell, days later voiced openness toward a rate cut, telling reporters he still saw “room for a further adjustment in the near term.”
Soon afterward, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daley took a similar position, telling reporters she sees room “for a further adjustment in the near term.” Daley, who isn’t voting on interest rates this year, is widely viewed as a supporter of Powell.
A quarter-point interest rate cut would reduce the Fed’s benchmark rate to a level between 3.5% and 3.75%.
That figure would mark a significant pullback from a peak in 2023. At the outset of the pandemic, interest rates stood at 0%.
Still, a reduction of interest rates could offer some relief for mortgage and credit card borrowers. Savers, however, stand to lose income as interest rates decline for accounts held at banks.
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(NEW YORK) — Silver prices on Monday suffered their largest single-day drop in almost five years, before rebounding nearly 8% in midday trading on Tuesday. Some other precious metals, including gold, rode a similar rollercoaster.
The turbulent stretch comes near the end of a banner year for gold and silver, which rose far faster than even the robust stock market. Gold has climbed 66% in 2025, while silver has soared a staggering 160%. The S&P 500, by comparison, has jumped 17% over that span.
Bumpiness in recent days owes in part to the meteoric rise over prior months, some analysts told ABC News, saying investors likely cashed in on those gains by selling off their holdings.
The downturn in prices at the outset of this week followed an adjustment by exchange operator CME Group, which increased the amount futures traders must pony up in order to participate in the topsy-turvy markets for precious metals.
The uptick in the amount of such payments — known as margins — likely deterred some investors and pushed prices lower, analysts added. Prices boomeranged higher on Tuesday, suggesting some investors viewed the dip as a buying opportunity.
“These were some of the worst one-day losses in the history of trading in both gold and silver going back 50 years,” Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals, told ABC News.
“Extreme price volatility in commodity markets is a signal of the final stages of a mature bull market run,” Wyckoff added.
Over the course of the year, heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty boosted demand for gold and silver, which typically display a degree of independence from movements in stock prices. Volatility in bond markets and a devaluation of the U.S. dollar, meanwhile, unsettled alternative assets typically viewed as safe-haven investments.
The flight to gold in moments of market turbulence draws on decades of evidence, according to an analysis co-authored in 2025 by Campbell Harvey, a professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business who studies commodity prices. The price of gold moved higher during eight of the last 11 major stock market selloffs stretching back to the late 1980s, researchers found.
“Gold is a safe-haven asset because people believe it’s a safe-haven asset,” Paolo Pasquariello, professor of finance at the University of Michigan, told ABC News. “It’s a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.”
However, gold and silver prices carry volatility of their own, especially when buyers enter the market at a high point, risking losses instead of providing a security blanket, analysts said.
The rollercoaster this week could foretell volatility for gold and silver prices in 2026, Pasquariello said, pointing especially to a murky path forward for interest rates.
The Fed cut interest rates three consecutive times over the latter part of this year. Its benchmark rate now stands between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Policymakers at the central bank appear divided over where interest rates should go next. Three of the 12 voting members on the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC — a policymaking body at the Fed — dissented from the most recent quarter-point rate cut, the highest number of dissenters since 2019.
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for lower interest rates, is set to appoint a Fed chair next year. The leadership perch offers a large public platform, but it carries a single vote, like any other member of the FOMC.
Lower interest rates establish financial conditions favorable for gold and silver, since meager interest rates reduce the comparative benefit of interest-bearing investments such as savings accounts. A rate reduction also slashes the cost of borrowing for traders who speculate in precious metals, potentially juicing investment further.
“It looks like there is a significant split at the Federal Reserve about whether to cut interest rates or not,” Pasquariello said. “Markets like gold and silver – which in my mind have sensitivity to this rate uncertainty – will experience volatility the most.”
“People buy gold and silver for a safe haven,” Pasquariello added. “I don’t see that happening in 2026.”
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