The economy in 2025 was filled with contradictions, as growth was healthy while hiring slowed, inflation stayed elevated and unemployment rose.

The Trump administration has announced new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades.

U.S. employers added a suprisingly solid 119,000 jobs in September, the government said, issuing a key economic report that had been delayed seven weeks by the federal government shutdown.

The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut its key interest rate on Wednesday and could signal it expects another cut in December as the central bank seeks to bolster hiring.

Ongoing tariff threats from Washington and potentially sweeping government job cuts have darkened consumers’ mood and may be weighing on an otherwise mostly healthy economy.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to its highest level since October 2021, but the labor market remains one of the healthiest parts of the U.S. economy.

For nearly nine months, the Federal Reserve has relentlessly raised interest rates to try to slow the U.S. job market and bring inflation under control.

Inflation is raging.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday will launch one of the most difficult tasks a central bank can attempt: Raise borrowing costs enough to slow growth and tame high inflation, but not so much as to topple the economy into recession.

One of the fastest years of job creation in U.S. history stumbled at the finish line in December.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week from the lowest point of the pandemic, even as the job market appears to be rebounding on the strength of a reopened economy.

U.S. factory output slid last month as a shortage of computer chips disrupted auto production.