Both the October and November job creation numbers, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, came in late because of the 43-day federal government shutdown. The November job gains came in higher than the 40,000 economists had forecast. The October job losses were caused by a 162,000 drop in federal workers, many of whom resigned at the end of fiscal year 2025 on Sept. 30 under pressure from billionaire Elon Musk's purge of U.S. government payrolls.
The U.S. job market is sluggish and confusing this fall. American companies are mostly holding onto the employees they have. But they're reluctant to hire new ones as they struggle to assess how to use artificial intelligence and how to adjust to President Donald Trump's unpredictable policies, especially his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world. The uncertainty leaves jobseekers struggling to find work or even land interviews.
Just last night, Nvidia posted EPS of $1.30, which beat estimates by four cents. Revenue of $57 billion, up 62.5% year over year, beat by $1.91 billion. Data center revenue of $51.2 billion was up 25% quarter over quarter, and up 66% year over year. Analysts only expected NVDA to post EPS of $1.25 on $54.83 billion in sales, which would be a 56% jump year over year.
Donald Trump's renewed anger at Jerome Powell over delayed interest-rate cuts has intensified after a dramatic revision cut U.S. job growth by 911,000 since 2024-adding fuel to Trump's criticism of the Fed and amplifying political strife ahead of the Federal Reserve's September meeting. For months, Trump has been vocal in his frustration with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for being "too late" to cut rates, and he just got fresh ammunition in the latest jobs report data revision.
New figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the job market is considerably weaker than initially believed, and has been since April 2024. The revised BLS findings, out Tuesday, showed 911,000 fewer jobs than what was initially reported painting an ugly picture of the U.S. economy over the past year. (BLS) The stats are preliminary, and the final figures will be released early next year, according to the Associated Press.
Wall Street is holding steady Thursday as the countdown ticks to an update on the U.S. job market coming Friday that could clear the way for the cuts to interest rates that investors love. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 52 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was flat.
