The nation added an estimated 143,000 jobs in January. That figure fell short of the consensus forecast of 169,000 and was less than half the gain produced in December. Although the headline figure was disappointing, it doesn’t tell the whole story about the state of the labor market. On the positive side, the prior two-month total was revised higher by an estimated 100,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate ticked lower, from 4.1% to 4.0%, last...

The Federal Reserve’s progress on the inflation front has stalled in recent months. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the gauge of inflation most closely watched by the Fed, came in as expected in December, confirming a re-acceleration in the pace of price growth during the final month of 2024. Specifically, the PCE and core PCE, which excludes the food and energy components, rose 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, with the headline figure up from...

What financial habits have helped you most in life? Which ones have held you back? No matter how you answer those questions, your money habits have a lot to do with how you grew up. 1 They also can be shaped by when you grew up. That’s because each generation can have a distinct perspective and different experiences shaping their approach to money and financial choices. With that, every generation can bring its own strengths...