Weak Jobs Report Has Some Good News for the Fed

A red-hot labor market could be in the beginning stages of cooling down. What this means economically and politically could range from the good, the bad, to the ugly. The U.S. economy added 175,000 new jobs in April, down from the upwardly revised 315,000 positions in March. This fell short of the consensus estimate of 243,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent last month, up from 3.8 percent and higher than the market forecast. Labor-force participation numbers did not budge, average weekly hours slipped, and average hourly earnings slowed monthly and year over year. So, what will these figures mean for the 2024 election season?...