Finance

Few topics inspire quite so much misty-eyed sentiment from British leaders as their country’s relationship with America. On May 8th, however, the emotion went in the other direction. “A lot of people” call Britain “our greatest ally”, said President Donald Trump. “I don’t want to insult people by saying that, but I can say it’s certainly one of our greatest.” Whatever Britain’s exact position on America’s list of pals, Mr Trump was glad the country was the first recipient of a trade deal after his “Liberation Day” tariff spree. More

The U.S. job market is strong, characterized by low unemployment and layoffs.
However, companies are hiring at their slowest pace since 2014.
Career and job experts provide top ways to stand out in the current labor market.

Job seekers at a job fair hosted by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to support federal workers looking for new career opportunities, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on April 25, 2025.
Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

These days, job hunting may feel like something of a paradox: Even though the overall market is strong, it can be tough for jobseekers to find a new gig, according to economists.
Unemployment was relatively low in April, at 4.2%, and job growth exceeded expectations. The layoff rate is historically low, meaning those with jobs are holding onto them.

Yet it has gotten harder to find new work.
Businesses are hiring at their slowest pace since 2014. Nearly 1 in 4 jobless workers, 23.5%, are long-term unemployed — meaning they’ve been out of work for more than six months — up from 19.6% a year ago.
Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, called it a “low firing, low hiring trend” in a note on Friday.

There’s a “growing divide” in the labor market between those out of work and those who are employed, Stahle wrote.
The changing market conditions may feel jarring for job seekers, given that a few years ago there were record-high job openings and workers were quitting at record levels amid ample opportunity.

“This is just how it is right now: Companies are not hiring,” said Mandi Woodruff-Santos, a career coach and personal finance expert. “If they are, it’s very infrequent.”
Economic headwinds like trade wars and tumbling consumer confidence may make job-finding more difficult in coming months, economists said.
“The market can’t escape the consequences of rapidly souring business and consumer confidence forever,” Stahle wrote.

How job seekers can stand out in a tough market

Shannon Fagan | The Image Bank | Getty Images

Even in this “low firing, low hiring” market, there are ways for jobseekers to stand out, experts said.
“When the market changes, the way you search for a job may also have to be adjusted,” Jennifer Herrity, a career trends expert at Indeed, wrote in an e-mail.
1. Be ‘creative’ with networking
Job seekers will likely have to lean on personal relationships more than in the recent past, experts said.
Most jobs come through referrals or internal candidates, meaning people need to be “creative” and “strategic” about networking possibilities, Woodruff-Santos said.
“Instead of waiting for someone to pick your resume from a pile, you have to make it undeniable: Put yourself in front of them,” she said.
“Creating space for human connections and creating relationships will give you a little something extra,” she added.
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Don’t just look for obvious networking events like job fairs or expos heavily attended by other job seekers, Woodruff-Santos said.
She recommends seeking out conferences, seminars, special talks and book signings. For example, say you work in information technology and someone writes a book on corporate security in the world of artificial intelligence. Go to that author’s book signing, lecture, seminar or Q&A, Woodruff-Santos said — since the audience would likely be people in businesses with an interest in IT security.
Reconnect with former colleagues to get on a hiring manager’s radar before a role opens to the general public, Herrity said.
2. Look for internal opportunities
Workers dissatisfied with their current roles may be overlooking internal career opportunities, experts said.
“While hiring may appear to be slowing on the surface, it usually just means that opportunities have gone further underground,” Frances Weir, a principal at organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry, said in a March briefing.
However, employees should be strategic: For example, they likely shouldn’t apply to several different jobs at the company or seek to move on from a role they started only months ago, according to the firm.

3. Customize applications
“Generic resumes won’t stand out to employers in a tight market,” Herrity said. “Tailor your resume and cover letter to each role, echoing keywords from the job description and aligning your skills with the employer’s needs.”
Applicants should also highlight results — instead of responsibilities — on their resume and in interviews, she said. That shows they’re a proven performer by quantifying achievements.
4. Upskill and reskill
“Employers value candidates who use slow periods to grow,” Herrity said. “This is especially important for those facing long-term unemployment who may find themselves in a skills gap.”
She recommends finding free or low-cost courses in any relevant career areas to help fill gaps and signal initiative, motivation and self-teaching.

List recent certifications or course completions in the “education” or “skills” section of a resume, she said.
5. Be flexible
While waiting for your ideal job, success might mean being open to contract work, hybrid roles or adjacent industries, Herrity said.
“Short-term roles can be a great opportunity to grow your network and skills, then leap when the right full-time role appears,” she said. More

“We suffer”, said Seneca, “more often in imagination than in reality.” The Stoic philosopher could have been talking about the generations. Members of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, say that social media ruined their childhood. Millennials, between 1981 and 1996, complain that they cannot buy a house. Baby-boomers, between 1946 and 1964, grouse that they face an uncertain retirement. More

YOU cannot fault the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for its communication. On May 3rd it and its allies (OPEC+), which supply 40% of the world’s crude oil, announced that they would crank up output by 411,000 barrels a day (b/d) in June—triple what analysts had expected, and equivalent to 0.4% of global demand. Global prices briefly sank below $60 a barrel, nearing four-year lows; they remain 6% below their level of April 28th, when rumours of a supply boost first emerged. In a statement, the group gave a straightforward reason for its decision: “healthy market fundamentals”. More

Some countries are rich. Others are cheap. And then there is Taiwan. The miracle economy, home to the world’s most advanced chipmaker, has a respectable GDP per person of over $33,000. Yet the prices of its goods and services are only 42% of America’s, when converted into dollars. Its McDonald’s burgers, to take one example, are the cheapest of all the countries tracked by our Big Mac Index. More

The “Kindleberger Spiral”, a graph of world trade between 1929 and 1933, looks like water circling a drain, or a small animal curling up into a ball. It was produced by Charles Kindleberger, an economic historian, in “The World in Depression”, a book published in 1973, and has recently enjoyed a new lease of life as a demonstration of the self-harm that protectionism inflicts. From month to month, Kindleberger charted how the global economy turned in on itself throughout the late-1920s and 1930s, spiralling towards disaster. Another idea from his work—the “Kindleberger gap”, referring to a leadership void—is also proving helpful. More

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 at Conrad Washington on April 23, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

Billionaire Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund, said working class Americans will bear the brunt of President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
“Tariffs hit the pocketbook of hardworking Americans the hardest,” Griffin said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” Wednesday. “It’s like a sales tax for the American people. It’s going to hit those who are working the hardest to make ends meet. That’s my big issue with tariffs. It’s such a painfully regressive tax.”

Trump rolled out shockingly high levies on imports last month, triggering extreme swings on Wall Street. The president later went on to announce a 90-day pause on much of the increase, except for China, as the White House sought to strike deals with major trading partners. Trump has slapped tariffs of 145% on imported Chinese goods this year, prompting China to impose retaliatory levies of 125%.
Griffin, whose hedge fund managed more than $65 billion at the start of 2025, voted for Trump and was a megadonor to Republican politicians. But he has also criticized Trump’s trade policy, saying it risks spoiling the “brand” of the United States and its government bond market.
“The reason the American voters elected President Trump was because of the failed economic policies of Joe Biden and the inflationary shock that reduced the real incomes of every American household,” Griffin said. “The president really does have to focus on managing inflation, because I think it’s front and center, the primary score card that American voters are going to think about when it comes to this midterm election.”
The Wall Street titan said there is a “modest” risk of stagflation as higher tariffs create both inflationary pressures and slow down the economy. He said the trajectory of the economy largely depends on how Trump’s economic policy develops.
As laid out by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump’s economic program takes a three-pronged approach: trade, tax cuts and deregulation.
“The question is, will all three of those come together to give us the growth that we need in our economy?,” Griffin asked. “That’s the real question we’re going to face over the next two years.” More

The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate unchanged in a range between 4.25%-4.5%, where it has been since December.
The post-meeting statement noted the recent market volatility and how that is factoring into the central bank’s policy decisions.
“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” the statement said.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its key interest rate unchanged as it waits for the Trump administration’s trade policy to take shape and sees its impact on a sputtering economy.
In a move that carried little suspense given the wave of uncertainty sweeping the political and economic landscape, the Federal Open Market Committee held its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a range between 4.25%-4.5%, where it has been since December.

The post-meeting statement noted the volatility and how that is factoring into policy decisions.
“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” the statement said. “The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.”
While the statement did not specifically address the tariffs, Chair Jerome Powell addressed the issue at his post-meeting news conference.

Stocks briefly ceded some gains after the rate announcement but mostly recovered, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 300 points despite some worries over the Fed’s characterization of the economic risks.
“The May FOMC statement in effect warns that a large trade shock is still set to hit the economy in spite of efforts by the Trump administration to deescalate, with the Fed seeing the risks ahead as two-sided and not providing any early dovish lean in favor of a June rate cut,” wrote Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central bank strategy at Evercore ISI. “The net implications for risk assets are negative.”

A possible stagflationary scenario

Finding the balance between the two elements of the Fed’s so-called dual mandate of full employment and stable prices has been made more difficult lately amid President Donald Trump’s tariff push.
In noting that tariffs both threaten to aggravate inflation as well as slow economic growth, the statement raises the possibility of a stagflationary scenario largely absent from the U.S. since the early 1980s.
Policymakers have largely been in agreement that the central bank is in a good position, with the economy generally holding up for now, to be patient as it calibrates monetary policy.
Powell emphasized this during the press conference. “The economy itself is still in solid shape,” he said.
The Fed’s deliberations come as the White House is locked on negotiations with top U.S. trading partners during a 90-day negotiating period that began in early April. Trump slapped 10% across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports and threatened other individual “reciprocal” duties pending ongoing talks.
As near-daily headline changes gauge the trade war, the economy has been flashing conflicting signals on growth, inflation, and consumer and business sentiment.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic performance, fell 0.3% in the first quarter, the product of slower consumer and government spending and a surge in imports ahead of the tariffs. Most Wall Street economists expect the economy will return to positive growth in the second quarter.
The FOMC statement noted that “swings in net exports have affected the data,” and held to its recent characterization that the economy “has continued to expand at a solid pace.”
Indeed, job growth has held up despite Trump’s efforts to pare down the federal workforce. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 177,000 in April and the unemployment rate held at 4.2%, giving the Fed room to breathe if it expects a further economic slowdown.
Inflation has been ticking lower and approaching the Fed’s 2% target, but tariffs are expected to result in at least a one-time rise in prices. Trump has pushed the Fed to cut rates as inflation has eased. The central bank’s preferred gauge showed headline inflation at 2.3%, or 2.6% on core that excludes food and energy.
However, as with all aspects of the economy, it all depends on what happens with tariffs.

Trade talks in focus

Recent indications of progress in negotiations along with some softening from the administration have helped reverse a huge stock market sell-off after the April 2 “liberation day” announcement from Trump. However, business surveys show a high degree of anxiety, with most managers reporting concerns about supplies and pricing from the tariffs.
Market pricing regarding Fed action has been volatile as well.
Heading into the meeting, pricing indicated virtually no chance of a cut this week and less than 30% probability of a move in June, with the next reduction expected in July. Traders are pricing in a total of three cuts this year, though that could change following Wednesday’s decision.
The committee’s decision to hold the benchmark rate steady was unanimous. The fed funds rate is used by banks for overnight lending but also feeds into other consumer debt such as mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. More