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US employers added 187,000 jobs in July, the lowest number since COVID peaked in 2020, the Labor Department said Friday.

The latest figures shown in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July report, released Friday, are a key indicator that the red-hot labor market is officially cooling after nearly 18 months of interest rate hikes — part of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening cycle to bring inflation back down to its pre-pandemic level of 2%.

Job openings last month mark a slight decrease from the 209,000 jobs added to the US economy in June, and a sharper drop from the robust 339,000 jobs that were gained in May.

The figures mark the slowest increase since December 2020, though the US is currently enjoying a 30-month streak of monthly job gains.

The government agency’s report also showed that unemployment was little changed month-over-month, to 3.5% from 3.6%.

Employment in healthcare added 63,000 jobs last month, increasing the most.

Jobs in construction, financial activities and wholesale trade also trended positively, the report showed.

Fed officials have warned that strong hiring can often fuel inflation if companies feel compelled to raise pay to attract and keep workers.

Thus, a slowdown in job growth and pay raises could help the Fed reach its 2% inflation target.

The Fed last week hiked interest rates to a 22-year high — to a range between 5.25% and 5.5% — and Powell suggested that further lifts could be imminent if officials though it were necessary to combat stubbornly-high inflation.

Friday’s report came in under what economists had expected.

They had forecast 200,000 new jobs in June with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.6%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Experts have long been forecasting that the jobs market would cool by the fourth quarter of the year, though bankers are shrugging off recession concerns as US consumers have reportedly been keeping up their loan payments.

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon said in an earnings conference call last month: “Even if we go into recession, theyre going with rather good condition, with low borrowings and good house price value still.”

Bank of America CFO Alastair Borthwick also said that “the consumers actually in pretty good shape,” citing elevated deposits and strong asset quality.

Powell has also said that Fed staff is no longer forecasting a recession.

We do have a shot for inflation to return to target without high levels of job losses, the Fed Chairman said.

However, when ratings agency Fitch shockingly downgraded the US’ top-tier sovereign credit rating from AAA to AA+ earlier this week, it pointed to a looming recession by the end of the year as reason for doing so.

The agency noted that it expects the US economy to slip into a mild recession from the fourth quarter of this year into the first quarter of 2024.

Tighter credit conditions, weakening business investment and a slowdown in consumption will push the US economy into a mild recession, Fitch said in the statement.

Fitch’s decision was bashed among top economists, with the likes of Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and CUNY economics professor Paul Krugman both calling the move “bizarre.”

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Politics

More than half of Labour members do not want Starmer to lead party into next general election – poll

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More than half of Labour members do not want Starmer to lead party into next general election - poll

More than half of Labour members do not want Sir Keir Starmer to fight the next general election as party leader, a new poll has revealed.

The Survation survey for LabourList, shared with Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, showed 53% of the party membership want a new leader by the time of the next election, while only 31% want Sir Keir to remain in post until then.

The findings lay bare the scale of the challenge facing the prime minister as he heads to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference.

He arrives at the gathering just days after a separate poll showed Reform leader Nigel Farage had a clear path to Number 10, and after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham appeared to set out his own bid for the Labour leadership in a series of interviews in which he claimed Labour MPs had privately urged him to return to Westminster.

In a direct criticism of Sir Keir, Mr Burnham – who previously ran for the Labour leadership in 2010 and 2015 – said Number 10 had created a “climate of fear” among MPs and created “alienation and demoralisation” within the party.

And in an apparent rebuke of the government’s policies and priorities so far, Mr Burnham set out an alternative vision to “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on expensive homes in London and the South East and for greater public control of energy, water and rail.

It follows a turbulent few weeks in which the prime minister has lost several close appointments: Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister, Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, Paul Ovenden as his director of political strategy and most recently Steph Driver, his director of communications.

More on Andy Burnham

The LabourList poll, which surveyed 1,254 Labour members between 23 and 25 September, also showed Labour members were unhappy with the general direction of the government, with 65% saying Sir Keir was heading in the wrong direction, compared with 26% who said he was getting it right.

More than 60% said he had governed badly, compared with 35% who had said he had done a good job.

The results will add to further grim reading for Labour after a mega poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News showed that Mr Farage is on course to be the next prime minister.

The YouGov MRP polling projection, based on a 13,000 sample taken over the last three weeks, suggested an election held tomorrow would see a hung parliament with Reform UK winning 311 of the 650 seats – 15 seats short of the formal winning line of 326.

The projection of Commons seats in Great Britain puts Reform UK on 311 seats, Labour on 144 seats, Liberal Democrats on 78 seats, Conservatives on 45 seats, SNP on 37 seats and Greens on seven seats, with Plaid on six seats and three seats won by left-wing challengers.

Northern Ireland constituencies are excluded.

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YouGov: Farage set to be next PM

Read more:
Watchdog will not reopen donations probe into Labour thinktank
Could Andy Burnham be a serious threat to the PM?

The result would see Labour lose around two-thirds of their existing seats, down from the 411 they won in last year’s general election.

It would also represent the worst result for the party since 1931 and would mark a further decline on the party’s performance under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, when the party won 202 seats.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s approval rating has hit a historic low. Just 13% of the public approves of the job he is doing as PM, according to a new Ipsos poll, while 79% is dissatisfied – giving him a net approval rating of -66.

That is worse than the previous record the pollster has recorded of -59, held by both Rishi Sunak in April 2024, and Sir John Major in August 1994.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. Pic : PA
Image:
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. Pic : PA

The Labour Party doesn’t fare much better, with just 22% of the public saying they would vote for it if a general election were held today, while 34% would vote for Reform UK.

But Sir Keir has insisted that he can “pull things around”, telling The Sunday Times: “It is the fight of our times and we’ve all got to be in it together. We don’t have time for introspection, we don’t have time for navel-gazing.

“You’ll always get a bit of that at a Labour Party conference, but that is not going to solve the problems that face this country.

“Once you appreciate the change – in the sense of the division that Reform would bring to our country and the shattering of what we are as a patriotic country – then you realise this is a fight which in the end is bigger than the Labour Party.”

Sir Keir has previously warned that the next election will be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK.

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US

‘I’m not so careful with what I say’ – is Trump feeling more invincible than ever?

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'I'm not so careful with what I say' - is Trump feeling more invincible than ever?

It was one sentence among the many words Donald Trump spoke this week that caught my attention.

Midway through a jaw-dropping news conference where he sensationally claimed to have “found an answer on autism”, he said: “Bobby (Kennedy) wants to be very careful with what he says, but I’m not so careful with what I say.”

The US president has gone from pushing the envelope to completely unfiltered.

Last Sunday, moments after Charlie Kirk‘s widow Erika had publicly forgiven her husband’s killer, Mr Trump told the congregation at his memorial service that he “hates his opponents”.

President Donald Trump embraces Charlie Kirk's widow Erika. Pic: AP
Image:
President Donald Trump embraces Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. Pic: AP

Twenty-four hours later, he drew fierce rebuke from medical experts by linking the use of Tylenol (paracetamol) during pregnancy to increased risk of autism.

The president treats professional disapproval not as a liability but as evidence of authenticity, fuelling the aura that he is a challenger of conventions.

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‘Paracetamol use in pregnancy perfectly safe’

On Tuesday, he went to the United Nations, where his frustrations over a stalled escalator and teleprompter failure were the prelude to the most combative address.

More on Donald Trump

“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell,” he told his audience, deriding Europe’s approach to immigration as a “failed experiment of open borders”.

Mr Trump addresses the UN General Assembly in New York. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Mr Trump addresses the UN General Assembly in New York. Pic: Reuters

Then came a U-turn on Ukraine, suggesting the country could win back all the land it has lost to Russia.

Most politicians would be punished for inconsistency, but Mr Trump recasts this as strategic genius – framing himself as dictating the terms.

It is hard to keep track when his expressed hopes for peace in Ukraine and Gaza are peppered with social media posts condemning the return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night television.

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Trump’s major shift in Ukraine policy

Perhaps most striking of all is his reaction to the indictment of James Comey, the FBI director he fired during his first term.

In theory, this should raise questions about the president’s past conflicts with law enforcement, but he frames it as vindication, proof that his enemies fall while he survives.

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Ex-FBI chief: ‘Costs to standing up to Trump’

Mr Trump has spent much of his political career cultivating an image of a man above the normal consequences of politics, law or diplomacy, but he appears to feel more invincible than ever.

Read more from Sky News:
Musk and Prince Andrew named in latest Epstein files
Trump: ‘Looks like we have a deal’ to end war in Gaza

From funerals to world summits, world peace to public health, he projects the same image: rules are for others.

It is the politics of the untouchable.

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UK

More than half of Labour members do not want Starmer to lead party into next general election – poll

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More than half of Labour members do not want Starmer to lead party into next general election - poll

More than half of Labour members do not want Sir Keir Starmer to fight the next general election as party leader, a new poll has revealed.

The Survation survey for LabourList, shared with Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, showed 53% of the party membership want a new leader by the time of the next election, while only 31% want Sir Keir to remain in post until then.

The findings lay bare the scale of the challenge facing the prime minister as he heads to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference.

He arrives at the gathering just days after a separate poll showed Reform leader Nigel Farage had a clear path to Number 10, and after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham appeared to set out his own bid for the Labour leadership in a series of interviews in which he claimed Labour MPs had privately urged him to return to Westminster.

In a direct criticism of Sir Keir, Mr Burnham – who previously ran for the Labour leadership in 2010 and 2015 – said Number 10 had created a “climate of fear” among MPs and created “alienation and demoralisation” within the party.

And in an apparent rebuke of the government’s policies and priorities so far, Mr Burnham set out an alternative vision to “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on expensive homes in London and the South East and for greater public control of energy, water and rail.

It follows a turbulent few weeks in which the prime minister has lost several close appointments: Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister, Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, Paul Ovenden as his director of political strategy and most recently Steph Driver, his director of communications.

More on Andy Burnham

The LabourList poll, which surveyed 1,254 Labour members between 23 and 25 September, also showed Labour members were unhappy with the general direction of the government, with 65% saying Sir Keir was heading in the wrong direction, compared with 26% who said he was getting it right.

More than 60% said he had governed badly, compared with 35% who had said he had done a good job.

The results will add to further grim reading for Labour after a mega poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News showed that Mr Farage is on course to be the next prime minister.

The YouGov MRP polling projection, based on a 13,000 sample taken over the last three weeks, suggested an election held tomorrow would see a hung parliament with Reform UK winning 311 of the 650 seats – 15 seats short of the formal winning line of 326.

The projection of Commons seats in Great Britain puts Reform UK on 311 seats, Labour on 144 seats, Liberal Democrats on 78 seats, Conservatives on 45 seats, SNP on 37 seats and Greens on seven seats, with Plaid on six seats and three seats won by left-wing challengers.

Northern Ireland constituencies are excluded.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

YouGov: Farage set to be next PM

Read more:
Watchdog will not reopen donations probe into Labour thinktank
Could Andy Burnham be a serious threat to the PM?

The result would see Labour lose around two-thirds of their existing seats, down from the 411 they won in last year’s general election.

It would also represent the worst result for the party since 1931 and would mark a further decline on the party’s performance under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, when the party won 202 seats.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s approval rating has hit a historic low. Just 13% of the public approves of the job he is doing as PM, according to a new Ipsos poll, while 79% is dissatisfied – giving him a net approval rating of -66.

That is worse than the previous record the pollster has recorded of -59, held by both Rishi Sunak in April 2024, and Sir John Major in August 1994.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. Pic : PA
Image:
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. Pic : PA

The Labour Party doesn’t fare much better, with just 22% of the public saying they would vote for it if a general election were held today, while 34% would vote for Reform UK.

But Sir Keir has insisted that he can “pull things around”, telling The Sunday Times: “It is the fight of our times and we’ve all got to be in it together. We don’t have time for introspection, we don’t have time for navel-gazing.

“You’ll always get a bit of that at a Labour Party conference, but that is not going to solve the problems that face this country.

“Once you appreciate the change – in the sense of the division that Reform would bring to our country and the shattering of what we are as a patriotic country – then you realise this is a fight which in the end is bigger than the Labour Party.”

Sir Keir has previously warned that the next election will be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK.

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