businesses

Jobs reports, consumer spending reports, and gross domestic product (GDP) releases are key economic indicators that businesses, investors, and policymakers use to assess the strength of the U.S. economy.

Large tariff increases on imported goods can materially raise costs for businesses and can create instability or negative reactions in financial markets.

Scraping publicly available online data is a common practice used by businesses and researchers.

Many businesses have outsourced their data center operations to large cloud providers because outsourcing is generally more cost-effective and operationally efficient than maintaining private data centers.

Just-in-time inventory practices that keep minimal stock on hand increase supply-chain fragility by making businesses more vulnerable to disruptions when delays occur.

The International Monetary Fund stated in its 2025 World Economic Outlook that import taxes and threats of additional tariffs have created ongoing uncertainty for businesses and are weighing on the world economy.

Federal agencies collect and release statistics on the labor market, public health, agriculture, demographics, and other areas that are used by businesses, investors, and policymakers to make wage-setting, hiring, pricing, investment, and benefit-adjustment decisions.

Businesses use official government data such as Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs reports to set wages and make hiring, pricing, and investment decisions; investors monitor government economic indicators and those releases can trigger significant stock market reactions; policymakers use government data to set policies like minimum wage standards and to adjust social assistance programs.

Immigration enforcement operations can create a climate of fear that disrupts daily life and regional economies, including decreased workplace attendance, temporary or permanent business closures, and increased strain on schools, hospitals, and places of worship.

Higher interest rates can reduce inflation because they raise borrowing costs for households and businesses, which tends to lower spending and aggregate demand.

Tariffs on imported goods can cause businesses to raise consumer prices by passing some or all of the import tax costs onto consumers.

Businesses, investors, and policymakers rely on government economic data (for example, jobs reports) to set wages, make hiring, pricing and investment decisions, and to inform policy actions; investors' reactions to such data can drive significant stock market movements.

Tariff uncertainty and changes in import levies commonly cause businesses to adjust pricing strategies, reduce costs (including layoffs), re-evaluate supply chains, and explore alternative manufacturing locations.