Traders Adjust Bets On Jobs Data, Bondi Faces Epstein Questions, More

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What surprising jobs data has traders reacted to?

Unknown 0:00
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Amy Morris 0:28
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Amy Morris. Traders are adjusting their bets on the Fed's next move after a big surprise from the January jobs report. 130,000 new jobs added in the month, twice as many as economists expected, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3 percent. Claudia Somm is a former Fed economist now with New Century Advisors.
Claudia Somm 0:50
My base case is still two rate cuts this year, but we're going to get a lot more information and the Fed is going to watch the labor market extremely carefully.
Amy Morris 0:59
Diane Swonk is chief economist at KPMG and says those jobs numbers are even better the more you dig.
Diane Swonk 1:05
That underemployment rate where you get discouraged workers and those having to cut part-time, that fell to 8% from 8.4% in December. What we're starting to see is some of the ice melt in the labor market now and things beginning to shift a bit. We need to keep up that momentum.
Amy Morris 1:22
The report also included benchmark revisions to 12 months of jobs numbers through last March, and that erased 862,000 jobs more than expected.

How are economists interpreting the latest job numbers?

Amy Morris 1:32
Markets are now pushing back bets on the next Fed rate cut from June to July, and that's moved Treasuries lower. We do check markets for you all day long here at Bloomberg. The S&P 500 is up a quarter percent. NASDAQ little changed on the upside. The Dow little changed on the upside. Ten-year Treasury yield at 4.15 percent. The two-year yield at 3.49 percent. Checking Bitcoin now, it's down 3 percent, hovering around $66,000. Shares of Kraft Heinz slightly higher after CEO Steve Cahillane says plans to split in two are on hold indefinitely. He says the company will invest $600 million in marketing, research and development, improving its products and reducing some prices, and they plan to launch healthier options.
Amy Morris 2:15
The Congressional Budget Office is warning the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path, increasing its estimate of deficits for the coming decade by $1.4 trillion because of President Trump's 2025 tax law and immigration policies. The CBO projects the increased revenue from tariffs will reduce deficits by about $3 trillion, but that still won't be enough to cover the cost of the administration's immigration enforcement actions and the extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts. Attorney General Pam Bondi was reprimanded by Democratic lawmakers for the release of files on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Critics claiming that redactions were excessive and mishandled, including the failure to redact victims' information.

What impact do recent job figures have on Fed rate cuts?

Amy Morris 2:59
Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal.
Pramila Jayapal 3:02
Will you apologize for what your Department of Justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information?
Merrick Garland 3:14
Merrick Garland sat in this chair twice. Attorney General Bondi. I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics.
Amy Morris 3:21
Bondi, backed by Republicans on the panel, touted her department's record on enforcement against undocumented immigrants who've been accused of committing crimes. President Trump's energy chief has arrived in Venezuela to meet with the nation's new leader and assess its energy infrastructure. Energy Secretary Chris Wright tells Bloomberg's Anne-Marie Hordern there's more on the agenda.
Chris Wright 3:41
The agenda is meet the leaders, most importantly. Meet the leaders and meet other humans that are leading the businesses here in Caracas and in Venezuela.
Amy Morris 3:51
Build personal relationships and connections so we can communicate better. Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaking with Bloomberg's Anne-Marie Hordern in Venezuela. The Trump administration plans to appeal a series of court rulings blocking efforts to stop construction of offshore wind farms. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says offshore wind farms are expensive and pose a national security threat.

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