What unemployment, 'stagnant' labor market mean for Fed rate cuts

Morning Brief host Julie Hyman and Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre track several of Friday's top trending stock tickers, including Meta (META), Oklo (OKLO), Vistra (VST), Rio Tinto (RIO), Glencore (GLNCY), and Intel (INTC). The US added 50,000 jobs in the month of December, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), below the Bloomberg estimate of 70,000 non-farm payrolls. Additionally, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4% — down from the revised November reading of 4.5% (was originally 4.6%)— while average hourly earnings rose 0.3%. Morning Brief Anchor Julie Hyman reports on the breaking labor data, alongside RSM Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas and Interactive Brokers Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick.

The US economy added fewer jobs than expected in December. The unemployment rate also fell below estimates. Yahoo Finance Federal Reserve Correspondent Jennifer Schonberger and Annex Wealth Management chief economist and strategist Brian Jacobsen explain what the latest jobs report means for the Fed. 

US productivity rose 4.9% in the third quarter of 2025, as reported on Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This data comes on top of the December jobs report, which saw the US economy grow by 50,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4% (down from the revised November reading of 4.5% which was originally 4.6%). RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas — alongside Interactive Brokers' Steve Sosnick and UBS Global Wealth Management's Leslie Falconio — reacts to the fresh productivity figure amid rising jobless claims. 

Takeaways:

• Earnings season is close to kicking off for big banks, with companies JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Goldman Sachs (GS) set to report their quarterly results throughout next week.
• Major US bank stocks notably ended 2025 at new record highs. 
• Yahoo Finance senior bank reporter David Hollerith lists the three biggest themes that Wall Street investors will be watching from bank earnings. 

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