, Columnist
Jobs Don't Justify a Half-Point Cut. Will Inflation?
When the data aren’t decisive, the Fed and markets will rely… on more data.
Jobseekers talk to recruiters at the Bronx Job Fair & Expo.
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
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Friday dawned with a sense that something was about to be decided. It wasn’t. Non-farm payrolls data for August showed employment growing, but more slowly and by a bit less than had been expected, while the separately measured unemployment rate ticked down slightly. Two questions dominating market discussions — Will there be a recession? And will the Federal Reserve cut by 50 or just 25 basis points when it meets later this month? — were left unresolved. If anything, the answers seem a little further away.