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A sell-off, a race, the stock market's post-election gains. Today, we get the latest report on how the job market is doing. Prices are rising faster than wages, is hiring strong enough to keep the economy steady. I'm Layla Faldin, that's Amartinez, and this is up first from NPR News. Frustrations over high gas prices help Democrats win back Congress, but analysts say even if the war with Iran ended tomorrow, prices won't come down anytime soon. What tools do lawmakers have to lower prices? At a federal judge temporarily blocked construction on President Trump's 250-foot arch-hours after a panel approved it, how much the courts and a Democratic Congress limit Trump's plans to reshape Washington. Stay with us, who got the news, you need to start your day. Rising prices and paychecks that are not keeping pace made for a combustible combination in this week's midterm elections. Voters took out their frustrations at the ballot box Thursday. There was a similar route in the stock market. We're joined now by NPR's Scott Horsley, Scott, so let's start with those paychecks and the job markets, and we're going to get an update this morning, so what are forecasters expecting? Good morning. They think the report's going to show that hiring picked up a bit in October after a pretty anemic month in September, when employers added only 29,000 jobs. Cory Staley is an economist with the Indeed Job Search website. He says job postings on that side are up about 3% from a year ago, which could be an encouraging moment for the October job count we'll get this morning. So some signs that the demand for workers is actually a little bit stronger. So I would expect that we'll see still a pretty positive number. Today's reports expected to show that employers added somewhere around 60,000 jobs in October. That's not what you would call robust growth, but it is enough to keep the unemployment rate low. And so long as that's the case, and the job market remains stable, the Federal Reserve is able to focus its attention on fighting inflation. Ooh, the eye word. So what's happening with inflation? It remains stubbornly high, which is a big reason for that outpouring we saw in this week's election. Usually notes that prices in September were up 3.7% from a year ago, while average wages were up just 3%, ever since the war with Iran began, the workers have seen a real erosion of their buying power, which is really frustrating at a time where gas prices are higher, grocery prices are still high for many people. These workers are losing ground right now, the longer it wears on, the more and more they're going to fill that. Oftentimes, the best way for workers to boost their pay is to switch jobs, or at least act like they might switch, so employers pony up more. Right now, though, we're just not seeing much turnover in the job market, so wages have been relatively stagnant. And until that changes, or inflation cools off, there's going to continue to be a headache. Can you give us an explanation or understanding of what's going on with the stock market this week? It's been a doozy. Stocks soared on Wednesday as investors began to digest the results of the election. But by Thursday, digestion had turned into indigestion, and there was a massive sell-off that erased the previous day's gains, and then some. It started with computer chip makers, but it didn't stop there. You know, investors have been questioning whether the artificial intelligence boom has been overblown and needs to be scaled back. Those doubts were amplified when voters across the country showed they want more restrictions on data centers. Now, what's the rest of the market doing? It wasn't just tech stocks that took a beating yesterday. All of the major market indexes fell at least 3 percent. The tech heavy NASDAQ ended the day in correction territory, down more than 10 percent from its recent high. One silver lining is mortgage rates inched down just a little bit, although the rate on a 30-year home loan is still north of 7 percent. High mortgage rates have been a real drag on the housing market, however, because the data center boom construction companies have been able to keep adding jobs, we'll have to see if that construction hiring continues. That's NPR's Scott Horsey. Scott, thanks a lot. You're welcome. Voters turned out for Democrats this week in part because they were fed up by the high cost of fuel. But can the Democrats, soon to be in power, actually bring down gasoline and diesel prices anytime it's soon? Voters, energy reporter Willa Rubin is here to tell us in a news conference, right after the election, Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate Democrats, promised. Promise. That, quote, "relief is on the way so what can Congress do?" Well, Congress can try to do some things to lower the costs around the margins, but it can't do a ton to directly affect oil prices. Those are dictated by a complex global market, and the increases this year were largely linked to the war in Iran, which has driven up the price of crude oil. A gallon of gas is about a dollar higher than last year, and diesel is about $2.50 higher. The most powerful thing, A, that Congress can do to lower prices is to increase pressure on the president to end the war. Okay, so how is it going to do that? Well, Congress can limit funding for the war. They control the purse strings, after all. They can hold back confirmations of new officials, past resolutions. But remember, the president has veto power. And in recent weeks, he sent mixed signals about whether he's going to escalate the war or end it. Now, there are some things that the president and Congress might all be able to get behind. One idea the president floated the spring was to temporarily waive the federal gas tax. And the current Congress has introduced several bills to that effect. But waiving that tax would be small savings, about $0.18 a gallon, and it would mean less money to do things like repair roads. Is it that simple that if the war ends then gas and diesel prices get back to normal? Am I just oversimplifying it? No, so I talked to a couple of oil analysts, and they sketched out some scenarios for how this would go. The optimistic scenario is that if the U.S. and Iran announced a deal, market traders would rejoice, and the price of crude could fall $15 to $20 in a few days. The crude is not the same as the gas or diesel you buy at the pump. Those are refined oil products. So for those prices to recover, the whole oil supply chain has to recover. So yeah, so for example, traffic through the straight-of-form lose has been effectively throttled. Ships have been running these long alternative routes to avoid it. They'd all have to get back to port, resume their normal routes, and get oil to refineries. analysts told me if things go well, it could take several months for gas prices to get back to where they were before the war. But here's a less optimistic scenario, analysts told me there could still be some hiccups along the way. I talked with Jaime Brito, he's the executive director of refining oil markets for Dow Jones energy. His take? I don't want to say these, but expensive gas selling prices could be a new normal. He says it might take a year after a piece deal for gas prices to get back to what we're used to. Well, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. A year. So what kinds of hiccups did these analysts warn you about? Well, the war in Iran has been a big factor in global fuel prices, but it's not the only one. So, for example, the war in Ukraine, Ukraine has struck many Russian refineries, which make diesel. So there's less diesel coming to market, so diesel prices could drop more slowly than gasoline prices. Again, this is a situation where Congress can influence how the US behaves towards Russia in Ukraine, but it can't directly intercede. Here's another scenario. Once the straight of Hormuzri opens, there could be a lot of ships trying to get in and out. All at once, there could be traffic jams or refineries have been running at super high capacity this year, like 90 percent. What if some need emergency maintenance just at the moment when oil is slowing again? Those are all situations that the oil and shipping industries would have to handle, but Congress can't do much. That's NPR's energy reporter, Willa Rubin. Thanks a lot. Thank you. A federal judge has blocked construction on President Trump's 250-foot arch in the Capitol, at least for now. The late night ruling came just a few hours after a federal panel approved the project between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. Now, reshaping DC has been a priority for Trump in a second term, especially this week in the aftermath of his party's midterm defeat. NPR's Rachel Treesman has been following this and joins us now. What's the latest with the arch? The battle over the arch really came to a head last night. The National Capitol Planning Commission, which is packed with Trump allies, voted to approve the arch after an absolute marathon meeting. It heard from some 130 people overwhelmingly against the arch, but after about 9 hours, the panel went ahead and gave it the green light. The Trump administration had said it could start excavation work right after that. But right around midnight, district judge Tanya Chetkin stepped in and blocked construction for 14 days. That's a win for the plaintiff suing over the arch that started as a group, including Vietnam War veterans, and has expanded to include the governments of DC and Virginia. Chetkin agreed that those jurisdictions would be harmed financially and logistically, as soon as construction starts. She also seemed pretty skeptical of the administration's argument that it doesn't need congressional approval. And it's sort of evolving motives for wanting to build the arch, especially its recent claims about national security. It's worth noting that the renderings that it submitted to the National Capitol Planning Commission didn't include any details about national security. Now the arch is one of many ways that President Trump has tried to physically change Washington DC. running, just how focused he's been this week on these construction projects, despite an earthquake of an election, right? It came up a lot this week before and after the midterms. Trump made his final midterm pitch to voters on Monday from the reflecting pool where he mostly focused on his DC beautification efforts. Then he resurfaced the day after the election to show reporters around the White House ballroom. He talked up the marble floors and defended his priorities. When I get criticized like, why are you working on the White House, I'm doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America and it's got to be pristine. Then on Thursday, Trump signed a proclamation declaring the Oval Office a national monument. It'll make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space. The order prevents future presidents from making changes without congressional approval. And ironically, Trump hasn't asked Congress to sign off on his construction projects. Yeah, and that's led to several court fights, including over the Kennedy Center and a municipal golf course. What's the bigger picture here? Robert Weisman is the co-president of public citizen. That's the nonprofit representing the veterans suing over the arch. And he is one of many people that sees a through line between these projects. He wants monuments to himself and he believes he's got the right to place them around Washington DC without regard to the law. Just last week, a different federal judge blocked the administration from major renovations at East Potomac Park, the municipal golf course that Trump wants to redevelop. That case escalated last month after the government cut down hundreds of trees with less than a day's notice. And it raised alarm bells for the plaintiffs in the arch case, too. They said, East Potomac shows that the government can do a lot of damage in just 24 hours. Courts are one check against the president. The Congress soon play a bigger role with its new Democratic majority. It could. Several Democratic lawmakers are already talking about ways to block the arch, including prohibiting federal funding from going towards the project. And some are talking about looking into possible wrongdoing. Democrat Jared Hoffman of California, who will likely become the head of the House Natural Resources Committee, spoke at yesterday's meeting. He warned the commissioners that anyone working to advance a project not authorized by Congress is putting themselves at legal risk. Here is Rachel Treesman. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you. And that's a first for Friday, November 6th, I mean Martinez. And I'm Layla Faldin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Raphael Nom, Carol Platoni, Carol Richie, Mohamed Zavartici, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainis and Patrick Murray. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our executive producer is Jay Schaler. Join us again on Monday.