Economic Indicators

Layoff plans by US-based employers soared in 2025 led primarily by the Federal Government and Technology. Meanwhile, employers announced the lowest number of new hires since 2010. December saw the fewest layoff plans in 17-months, and December's hiring plans were the highest for the month since 2022. What will 2026 bring?

U.S. government bond yields aren’t just a barometer of the economy, they also influence the cost of borrowing, from mortgages to student loans. WSJ explains how they work and why they’re so crucial to the economy. Photo illustration: Tom Grillo/WSJ More from the Wall Street Journal: Visit WSJ.com: http://www.wsj.com Visit the WSJ Video Center: https://wsj.com/video On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/wsj/videos/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/WSJ On Snapchat: https://on.wsj.com/2ratjSM #BondYields #WSJGlossary #WSJExplains

People might be ordering more appetizers as a way to save on their restaurant bill.

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The OECD noted that many economies have been more resilient than expected so far this year.

Commerce data released yesterday showed that spending at US retailers jumped 0.6% last month, more than double economists’ expectations of 0.2%.

The consumer price index for August 2025 rose 2.9% on an annual basis. Tariffs seem to be pushing prices for goods like clothing higher, economists said.

Here are the key facts as of Septemeber 2025 & a revisit to my "mixed signals" research of 2004.

The U.S. economy as measured by the Gross Domestic Product grew at an annual rate of 3.3% in the second quarter, rather than the 3% annual growth initially...

Box demand touches nearly every industry, from flat-screen TVs to packaged food, all of which see sales fluctuate based on how flush shoppers feel.

Are tariffs a “boiling frog” process... or is this water really just lukewarm?...

Overall, the job market for new grads isn’t great.

President Donald Trump on Monday nominated E.J. Antoni to be the new commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that collects and publishes data about jobs and inflation, after firing the previous commissioner, whom he accused without evidence of rigging jobs data.

Overall inflation remained tame but price growth for import-dependent goods accelerated.

By Gleb Bryanski and Evgeniy Matveev

Foggy data is raising red flags for economists.

The U.S. economy is now expected to expand by just 1.6% in 2025, while the global economy is set to grow by 2.9%.

Amodei told Axios that the government should look into “taxes on people like me, and maybe specifically on the AI companies.”

Box factories are folding, a worrying sign for the outlook....

Looking ahead, American consumers have the “Sunday scaries” on steroids — but they actually aren’t feeling too bad about the present....

As of one minute past midnight today, the de minimis exemption on small packages shipped to the US officially ended. It could end the era of...

Salon owners say they're seeing a shift in their clients' spending that could be a warning sign for what's ahead for the wider economy.

Google found searches for “press- on nails” in the US are up 10% since February.

U.S. consumer confidence continued its sharp 2025 decline as Americans’ views about their financial futures fell to a 12-year low, driven by rising concerns over tariffs and inflation.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he could take government spending out of his agency's reports on gross domestic product.

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase 170,000 in February, according to the Dow Jones consensus forecast.

The labor market was still jugging along in February but that was before the bulk of DOGE cuts and tariffs.