April Hiring Keeps Fed on Hold, Shifts Focus to Inflation -- WSJ

Dow Jones05-08 20:59

By Nick Timiraos

Four months ago, a big question for the Federal Reserve was whether it needed to keep cutting interest rates to support what appeared to be a shaky labor market. That question is gone. The labor market has steadied and inflation is now drifting up instead of down due to the effects of tariffs and the Iran war.

The April jobs report underscores how the outlook has shifted and should put the focus squarely on inflation data when it comes to determining where the Fed-now firmly on pause-goes from here.

Hiring held up, the unemployment rate didn't budge, and income growth was solid in April. None of that builds a case for easing. With the labor market giving the Fed cover to wait, the next move on the policy debate is when and how to tilt toward a neutral bias that suggests a rate hike could be as likely as a rate cut. The answer could turn almost entirely on the inflation numbers.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2026 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 08, 2026 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>","source":null,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>April Hiring Keeps Fed on Hold, Shifts Focus to Inflation -- WSJ</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nApril Hiring Keeps Fed on Hold, Shifts Focus to Inflation -- WSJ\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n<div class=\"head\" \">\n\n\n<div class=\"h-thumb\" style=\"background-image:url(https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99);background-size:cover;\"></div>\n\n<div class=\"h-content\">\n<p class=\"h-name\">Dow Jones </p>\n<p class=\"h-time\">2026-05-08 20:59</p>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Nick Timiraos \n</p>\n<p>\n     Four months ago, a big question for the Federal Reserve was whether it needed to keep cutting interest rates to support what appeared to be a shaky labor market. That question is gone. The labor market has steadied and inflation is now drifting up instead of down due to the effects of tariffs and the Iran war. \n</p>\n<p>\n     The April jobs report underscores how the outlook has shifted and should put the focus squarely on inflation data when it comes to determining where the Fed-now firmly on pause-goes from here. \n</p>\n<p>\n     Hiring held up, the unemployment rate didn't budge, and income growth was solid in April. <a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/TPFC\">None</a> of that builds a case for easing. With the labor market giving the Fed cover to wait, the next move on the policy debate is when and how to tilt toward a neutral bias that suggests a rate hike could be as likely as a rate cut. The answer could turn almost entirely on the inflation numbers. \n</p>\n<p>\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 08, 2026 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"MINT","symbol_name":"PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Exchange-Traded Fund","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://dowjonesnews.com/newdjn/logon.aspx?AL=N","article_id":"2633518634","we_media_id":"106","thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2633518634","pubTimestamp":1778245140,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":null,"weMediaInfo":{"media_name":"Dow Jones","introduction":"Dow Jones publishes the world’s most trusted business news and financial information in a variety of media.","home_visible":0,"id":"106","head_image":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99"},"summary":"Four months ago, a big question for the Federal Reserve was whether it needed to keep cutting interest rates to support what appeared to be a shaky labor market. 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