United Arab Emirates says it will leave OPEC

(NEW YORK) — A jobs report to be released on Wednesday will provide a key barometer of the U.S. economy as policymakers grapple with a combination of elevated inflation and sluggish hiring.

The labor market slowed sharply last year, prompting interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve and concern among some observers about the nation’s economic prospects.

The U.S. added an average of 49,000 jobs each month in 2025, which marked a staggering decline from 168,000 monthly jobs added over the prior year.

Economists expect employers to have hired 55,000 workers in January, amounting to a slight uptick from 50,000 hires in December. Still, the anticipated performance would barely register above the lackluster hiring of a typical month last year.

In a bright spot, however, the unemployment rate remains low by historical standards. Unemployment stood at 4.4% in December, and economists expect that level to have been left unchanged in January.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics delayed the release of the January data due to a partial government shutdown last week, which helps explain why the jobs report is set to be issued on a Wednesday in the middle of the month, rather than its customary release on the month’s first Friday.

The jobs report will arrive weeks after a series of job cuts that slashed tens of thousands of workers combined at a handful of name-brand companies.

Amazon said last month it planned to cut about 16,000 employees as it seeks to “strengthen” its business by reducing “layers” and “bureaucracy” within its workforce.

A day earlier, UPS announced it plans to cut as many as 30,000 employees this year. Pinterest also unveiled an effort to slash 15% of its staff, according to a securities filing. The company boasts about 4,500 employees worldwide, a securities filing shows.

So far, the cooling labor market has avoided widespread job losses, making the recent flurry of layoffs an outlier, analysts previously told ABC News. The high-profile cuts reflect trends in tech and some other sectors, however, where companies have reversed a pandemic-era hiring blitz and pivoted in response to artificial intelligence.

The Fed slashed interest rates three consecutive times last year in an effort to boost the flagging labor market. In January, the Fed opted to hold interest rates steady, taking a cautious approach due in part to elevated inflation.

The benchmark rate stands at a level 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.

Still, Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared to view the economy in a favorable light, saying it is expanding at a “solid pace” during a Jan. 28 press conference.

“While job gains have remained low, the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization,” Powell added.

Futures markets expect two quarter-point interest rate cuts this year, forecasting the first in June and a second in the fall, according to CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.

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(NEW YORK) — A 10% global tariff took effect on Tuesday, marking the first duty enacted by President Donald Trump after a recent Supreme Court decision invalidated most of his levies.

Within hours of the high court’s ruling on Friday, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on nearly all imports for up to 150 days. The directive called for enforcement of the duty to begin at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

Soon after signing the order, Trump vowed to hike the global tariff to 15%. As of Tuesday, however, the president had not issued an executive order formalizing that increase.

Stocks ticked higher Tuesday morning, recovering some of the losses suffered a day earlier in the first trading session since Trump announced the tariff increase.

Trump enacted the 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the White House to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits, or disparities between a country’s total payments in transactions with other nations and its total earnings.

Under the measure, the president can also impose levies to “prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the dollar.”

The Section 122 tariffs will result in price increases amounting to $800 in additional costs for an average U.S. household over the next 150 days, the Yale Budget Lab projected. In order to extend the across-the-board 15% tariff beyond that time window, Trump would need to secure Congressional approval.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that Democrats would oppose an extension of Section 122 tariffs, which could deny Trump the 60 votes necessary to overcome a potential Senate filibuster.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump affirmed what he said was his authority to issue tariffs, saying he does not need to consult Congress before erecting new trade levies.

Trump also reiterated his commitment to his policy approach, warning other countries that they may face a “much higher Tariff, and worse.”

The high court ruled in their February 20 decision that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) does not authorize Trump to impose levies, nullifying a major swathe of tariffs issued by the president on April 2 of last year, which he dubbed “Liberation Day,” and a host of other measures.

If the Supreme Court had opted to uphold tariffs issued under IEPPA, the nation’s effective tariff rate would have remained at 16%, the Yale Budget Lab said. Taking into account the Section 122 tariffs, the effective tariff rate now stands at 13.7%, the group said.

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(NEW YORK) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 1,000 points in early trading on Tuesday as the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran prompted a major selloff.

The Dow fell 1,075 points, or 2.2%, while the S&P 500 dropped 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plummeted 2%.

Investor reaction on Tuesday sharply departed from the muted response a day earlier, when the major indexes closed essentially flat.

Oil prices, meanwhile, spiked for the second consecutive day as traders feared a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil supply.

The national average price of gasoline in the U.S. soared about 11 cents overnight to $3.11, AAA said on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on Saturday, with daytime strikes in the joint U.S.-Israel attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.

On Sunday, Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed by airstrikes in Tehran.

Iran is responding to the U.S.-Israeli operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and Gulf nations. American diplomatic facilities have also been attacked.

U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher on Tuesday, suggesting possible concern about economic instability and inflation stemming from the Iran War.

Since bonds pay a given investor a fixed amount each year, the specter of inflation risks higher prices that would eat away at those annual payouts.

In turn, bonds often become less attractive in response to economic turmoil. When demand falls, bond yields rise.

ABC News’ Jon Haworth, Jack Moore, Nadine El-Bawab, David Brennan, Kevin Shalvey, Meredith Deliso and Leah Sarnoff contributed to this report.

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