Mitchell Hartman

Second, very tight immigration policy, which is a choice on the part of the Trump administration.

Also, he says, companies overhired during the post-pandemic recovery, and now they're slimming down.

Plus, they've invested heavily in automation and AI, which is increasing productivity and reducing their need for more workers right now.

Turning to the inflation data we'll get later this week, economists expect a decline in headline consumer price inflation for January from 2.7 to 2.5 percent year over year.

But for consumers in the real economy, it might not feel like that, says Joe Bersuelis.

Most Americans would say there's a common baseline around rent prices, electricity is increasing, and food is increasing.

So for them, that means inflation is probably closer to 3.5 to 4%.

And with wages rising about the same amount on average, that means most workers, even if they can hold on to their jobs, don't feel like they're getting ahead in this economy.

I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

This has been a perennial theme in a period of geopolitical volatility.

So if the United States Treasury sells bonds and foreigners don't show up at the auctions to buy bonds, that means that domestic purchasers are probably going to require higher interest rates to choose to buy those bonds.

It's not accelerating, but it hasn't really slowed down either.

You know, the thing is that when interest rates go up, the price of those bonds, their value increases.

goes down.

It's like being the tallest kid in the kindergarten class.

Still not very tall, but it looks taller than the rest.

I'm looking at a chart.

It's part of my Monday morning meeting packet that charts yields and interest rates have barely moved since August.

It's replacing special effects houses.

It's replacing the need for directors on a lot of shoots.