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[ad_1] “We’ve continued to add jobs routinely every month for so long, and the unemployment rate we have reached is amazing,” said Catherine Barrera, chief economist of the online job site ZipRecruiter. “This is the economy doing well.” But the future has become clouded as President Trump continues to flirt with a trade war. The White House has offered little clarity about whether its newly imposed steel and aluminum tariffs will extend to allies like Mexico, Canada and the European Union, and it seems no closer to smoothing over economic tensions with China. It is unlikely that Friday’s report will illuminate whether those moves will affect blue-collar hiring . Economists said it was too soon to tell how employers may change their staffing or expansion plans in response to the tariffs on Chinese goods, or to Beijing’s retaliation. But there are signs that companies that buy metals are feeling the effects already. The Institute for Supply Management said this week that manufac...

[ad_1] Here is what to watch for on Wednesday afternoon. Are officials feeling pressure on inflation? Data released on Monday showed that wages and prices are now growing at 2 percent a year, according to the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the rate is 1.9 percent. Those levels are important because they indicate inflation is finally reaching the 2 percent level that the Fed has explicitly targeted, after six years of failing to meet that goal . The big question for this meeting is whether officials show new signs that they are worried about inflation climbing further in the months to come, which could mean more rate increases. Several Fed officials have raised concerns in recent weeks about the economy “overheating” and pondered whether the Fed may need to pour some cold water on the economy with higher interest rates. The concern is that if the Fed does not raise interest rates ...