Consumer Sentiment and Private Job Data to Provide a Fresh Look at the Economy

A new month begins with a familiar figure getting a lot of attention from economic policymakers, investors and businesses. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at a panel at Stanford University on Monday, nine days out from the central bank’s last meeting of 2025. The December meeting has become a pivotal one with various Fed members offering different views of late on whether another cut in interest rates is desirable. The Fed lowered interest rates by a quarter point at both its September and October meetings, but Powell said after the last one a December cut was not a foregone conclusion. Two...