Amy Scott

Catherine, how do you think this latest jobs report figures into that discussion?

Well, the Fed is trying to weigh both sides of its dual mandate, which is stable prices and maximum employment.

And there's been a question of which side of the mandate is more pressing at this point, because the actions that the Federal Reserve can take with regard to interest rates would probably, you know...

hurt one at the expense, hurt one and help the other and vice versa, depending on how much, whether they continue to cut rates or they keep rates flat or increase them.

Given the fragility that is in this job market, given as Heather said, that we seem to be in some sort of hiring recession, it certainly looks like this will encourage the Fed to continue cutting rates.

That's what markets seem to be expecting as well.

I think it's not so much a question of whether they cut rates again at this next meeting, but what is the trajectory of interest rate policy look like over the next year, given that we still have inflation in the economy and that we potentially may see further softening in the job market?

Yeah.

And speaking of interest rates, Heather, I wanted to get your take on some other news this week that President Trump has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy some $200 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities as a way to try to lower mortgage interest rates.

What, if anything, would that do for affordability?

All right.

Well, we will have to leave it there for now.

Heather Long is chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

Catherine Rappel is with Bulwark and MSNOW.

Thank you both so much and have a great weekend.

Wall Street shrugged off pretty much everything.

We'll have the details when we do the numbers.

One line item in that December jobs report that stood out was long-term unemployment.

More than a quarter of people who are unemployed and looking for work have been so for at least 27 weeks.

And that's the highest that figure has been in almost four years.