Tariffs and Manufacturing

U.S. employers added just 50,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, leaving total 2025 job gains at about 584,000 — the weakest annual increase since 2020 — with manufacturing, construction, retail and federal employment down while health care and hospitality added jobs. The night before the report, President Trump posted a graph that incorporated unreleased December data; the White House called it an inadvertent disclosure and said it’s reviewing protocols, while market strategists saw no clear trading or price moves tied to the post.