Weekly economic & financial commentary
|Summary
United States: The Labor Market Is Not Out of the Woods
- Job openings in December slipped roughly 10% year-over-year to their lowest level since September 2020. While business activity picked up in the services and manufacturing sectors, so did price pressures.
- Next week: Retail Sales (Tue.), Employment (Wed.), Existing Home Sales (Thu.), CPI (Fri.)
International: Central Banks Still in the Spotlight
- It was a busy week for foreign central bank announcements, though the only policy move came from Australia, where the RBA delivered a rate hike. The Bank of England, the European Central Bank and Banxico all held rates steady. Outside of central bank developments, Canada’s latest labor market data offered a mixed picture.
- Next week: Japan Labor Cash Earnings (Mon.), U.K. GDP (Thu.)
Topic of the Week: New Year, New Tariffs: January Tariff Developments
- Trade policy dominated headlines again during the first month of 2026. But despite escalatory rhetoric, the U.S. average tariff rate actually nudged down modestly.
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