Strong August Jobs Report Is a Bright Spot for the Economy

A hotter than expected jobs report sends stocks lower, as traders bet on a rate hike from the Fed. Plus federal regulators are investigating Tesla's cyber cap, which launched on the streets of Austin yesterday. The standards were developed decades ago, and obviously we're not thought of to consider something like a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals. And Democrats are criticizing John Fetterman after the Wall Street Journal reported that he showed little interest in his duties as a senator. It's Friday, September 4th. I'm Alex O'Solev for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs last month, much stronger than economists were expecting. The new report from the Labor Department shows that some of the jobs were from a rebound in the restaurant and education sectors, which economists considered more of a one-off. But the job gains were broad, and the U.S. has added more jobs each month on average than it did last year, suggesting that the labor market is stronger than it was earlier this summer. Journal markets reporter Jack Pitcher says this data removes an obstacle for the federal reserve, which is expected to choose between raising rates or holding them steady later this month. Today is a little bit of what we sometimes call a good news is bad news day. For the economy, today's jobs report showed strength, but the market's reaction is stock selling off. Not a lot, but things are broadly in the red. That's in reaction to this idea that today's report opened the door for a rate hike later this month, which oftentimes can slow things down and hurt the stock market. People are really focused on the Fed's upcoming meeting. The new Fed Chair Kevin Worsh is focused on getting inflation back closer to the Fed's target. The jobs report was an important data piece, especially if it came in weak. That would make it harder for the central bank to raise rates. What we got today definitely helps open the door for Worsh to raise interest rates in a few weeks. As Jack mentioned, major U.S. indexes fell today, with the Dow leading the losses and dropping half a percent. After an initial jump in U.S. Treasury yields, only shorter term treasuries remained higher at market close, and diesel prices hit a new all-time high of $5.85 a gallon today, a reminder of the inflation pressure facing the Fed. The stocks of companies that create your credit score tumbled today, after the Trump administration's housing chief said they'd been overcharging Americans. Bill Polti said he was giving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the authority to accept mortgages backed by scores from Startup Vantage Score. Shares of Fair Isaac, the company behind the main FICO credit score, fell almost 17 percent, while those of Equifax and Experian, two companies that distribute the score, dropped about 6 percent and 4 percent respectively. Today, federal regulators said that they have opened an investigation into Tesla and its new Robotaxi, the CyberCab, which doesn't have a steering wheel, mirrors, or pedals. It launched yesterday in Austin, Texas. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into whether the cars design puts it in conflict with federal safety standards. Tesla told the regulator that the CyberCab meets, quote, "all applicable" standards. Journal Autos reporter Ryan Felton says that part of the issue is a mismatch between the standards and the current state of technology. The sort of distinction here is if you can show that the vehicle is going to provide a sufficient level of safety as the car that is compliant, then you can apply for an exemption to some of these standards. So, Tesla is basically saying our vehicle is meeting all of the relevant safety standards, and that's why we're starting operations of CyberCab's. Becky Peterson, who has covered Tesla for the journal, says the CyberCab is central to Elon Musk's vision for Tesla. But at the moment, the investigation is more of a speed bump than a roadblock. Musk has said that Tesla won't be making any new cars with steering wheels or pedals because as he sees it, the future of the business is selling cars that are controlled by AI. You can't sell cars all around the United States if federal regulators don't approve of them. But right now, what they're doing is so small scale. There's only 45 cars. They're only able to drive around a limited area of Austin, Texas. Maybe they'll add more cars to the fleet around the country later, but right now there's so few cars that it basically doesn't matter. If regulators determine the CyberCab isn't compliant with federal safety standards, they could order a recall. Tesla didn't respond to a request for comment. Its stock closed down almost 6% today. Coming up, the networking platform where people go to look for a new job, and also sometimes a new boyfriend, more after the break. Nepal's army rescued two men alive from a tunnel at a hydropower project. Nine days after a flood left more than 1200 people dead. The rescue has sparked hope in a grieving nation where more than 5,000 people are still missing. WSJ chief correspondent Niharika Mandana has been covering the aftermath of the disaster. And she says the conditions in Nepal have made it difficult to find survivors. The rescue operations are incredibly tough and complex. It's hard to land helicopters close to rescue sites because the ground is still so muddy. And inside the tunnels, the mud has hardened and it's full of rocks and boulders and this kind of sludge that then you need excavators and dump trucks to kind of dig out to look for people. Search efforts continued in Nepal today, including in the same tunnel where the two men were found. Rescue workers believe other survivors are still trapped there. Back in the U.S., a judge has declared a mistrial in the trial of Lindsey Clancy, who killed her three children while in the grip of what she said was postpartum psychosis. The Massachusetts jurors said they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the seventh day of deliberations. The case has drawn national attention and become part of a conversation about women's struggles with postpartum mental health. Prosecutors will now decide whether to try the case again in front of a different jury. In Washington, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has disclosed that he had at least $250 million in income last year. That was in his latest annual ethics filing, which the Wall Street Journal got through a document request. Most of his income came from his former ownership of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald. He stepped down from his leadership role there and also from hundreds of other organizations. That mostly took place in February 2025 when he was sworn in. Cantor is now run by Lutnick's two oldest sons. Last night, the Wall Street Journal published a story about Pennsylvania Democrat John Federman, which detailed how he had shirked many of his duties as a U.S. senator. Instead, he focused much of his attention on backing Israel and appearing on Fox News. Shavon Hughes, who covers Congress for the Journal and reported the story, joins me now. Shavon, many Pennsylvania lawmakers criticized Federman today. One Democratic state representative said that, quote, "2028 can't come soon enough." But it's worth noting that some of the criticism came from people who would be expected to challenge Federman in a Democratic primary. What was the response on Capitol Hill? So the Senate is out of session right now, which allows the senators to really avoid questions here. But what I would expect is the reaction to a fragment into a couple of different groups. One are the group of Democrats who like John Federman, who suspect that he may be in the throes of an ongoing mental health crisis. The other are the group of Democrats who think he really is not a good senator and really does need to go. Then there are also the senators who understand that Democrats have a real shot at flipping the Senate in the midterm elections. And one of the things that could stime me those plans would be if John Federman were to leave the Democratic Party and caucus with the Republicans. For that group of senators, there is a different incentive of trying to keep him on board as he aligns more with the Republicans. Republicans have made it clear they would like to have John Federman. In particular, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania is a very close ally and somebody who has certainly been supporting a Federman. You must have heard from a lot of readers too. Is there a detail that seems like it's particularly getting under people's skin? It really depends on who you talk to, the opening scene in that article where you have three paralyzed veterans who come to meet with John Federman in person who he refuses to meet with because he wants to do a hit on Fox News is absolutely compelling for people at so many levels. Other people are upset by the treatment of the York police officers who died when John Federman said three hours. This may be a non starter because the funeral is so long. And I'm curious what Federman himself makes of this in the story about the reactions from Democrats today. We have that a representative for Federman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Myself and my colleague Will Hobson tried multiple times to get in touch with John Federman particularly Will. He called the office, he went to the office, he presented a detailed list of questions. He drove up to Eury Pennsylvania to try to talk to him and Federman brushed him off. I also contacted the office to try to speak to Federman. I will tell you Senator Federman is someone who I have sat down with before to speak to. In particular, I have had very meaningful conversations with him about his depression. That's a piece of the story. Everybody would certainly be interested in hearing from him, but he basically has shot a door. And we know that you were working on something just before talking to us. There is a group of former federalmen staffers who have now formed this group online on the social media platform acts. And what they say is that they are going to publish their text conversations with Senator Solomon on September 14th, the day that the Senate returns from its recess. And so it will be something that not only federalmen, but also all of the Democrats are going to have to grapple with. Okay. Certainly more to come. Shavon Hughes. Thank you so much. We'll leave a link to Shavon's story about federalmen in the show notes. And finally, LinkedIn may be the go-to place to announce a new job, to look for a new job, or just to network. But for some, it's also become a place to find love. The journal Celia Bernhardt talked to several couples who found a way to connect on LinkedIn. Now, Celia, I certainly know people who have used LinkedIn to, for example, vet their dates and make sure they are employed, that sort of thing. But using it as a place to meet someone is new to me, I'll say. Why are people turning to LinkedIn when, like, actually dedicated dating platforms exist? A lot of the couples that I spoke with, who met on LinkedIn, expressed that they were really at their wit's end with dating apps, people feel an exhaustion with them. They feel like they're ineffective or not authentic. Like they can't also know enough about the person sometimes. There's not a very clear headshot of them, or they don't put their professional background. These are all things that LinkedIn offers. What's funny about this tool, though, is that it's a platform that specifically has a no-dating rule. So how do people work around that to find somebody to connect with? Do you just slide into someone's DMs? There's not really an enforcement mechanism on that rule. But the dating coach that I spoke with, Jamie Bronstein, laid out her rules for when she's coaching clients to use LinkedIn to find a partner. And the idea is you should be reaching out to them in a non-obvious way. You should be sending a connection request and a message. Genuinely with some networking purpose, don't say, "Hey, you're gorgeous," or, "Hey, let's go out right away." That is invasive. And it is a professional platform. But if you say, "You know, I want to learn more about this industry that you're working in," or, "I think we have someone in common in our network." Can I pick your brain? That sort of thing? Exactly. That was a journal's Celia Bernhardt. Thank you, Celia. Thank you. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, what's news in markets? We'll be off on Sunday and Monday for the Labor Day holiday, and we'll be back with our regular show on Tuesday morning. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis, with supervising producer Tally Arbel. Michael Laval wrote our theme music. I shall mostly miss our development producer, Chris Sinsley, is our deputy editor, and Lee Tal Millaud is our senior director of shows. I'm Alex O'Sola. Have a great weekend, and thanks for listening. (upbeat music)