Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your midday brief for Friday, January 9th. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. U.S.
Chapter 2: What were the U.S. hiring trends in December?
employers added 50,000 jobs in December, a slight slowdown from November and an end to the weakest year for hiring since the pandemic. A Labor Department report out today shows the economy added 584,000 jobs in 2025, a sharp drop from the 2 million positions created the year before.
The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4 percent, but businesses remain hesitant on hiring people because of uncertainty over tariffs and AI. Facebook parent Meta said today that it's backing several nuclear power projects to power its AI data centers. It's working with developers to build new reactors and struck a deal to buy more power from three existing plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
For the new reactors, Meta wants to see them delivered within four to six years, a fast timeline that the company says is challenging but important to meet the urgent demand for electricity for its data centers. Financial details weren't disclosed.
And the European Union has approved a trade deal with four South American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as it tries to diversify trade and depend less on the U.S. and China. The deal was approved by EU countries' representatives, even after opposition from France and several other countries.
The agreement still needs approval from the EU parliament to take effect, which appears likely but isn't guaranteed. Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast.
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