In 2025, U.S. businesses added just 181,000 nonfarm jobs, an average of barely 15,000 a month and 69 percent fewer than the 584,000 previously estimated, the U.S. labor department said last week.
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Feb 17 2026
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AMERICANS BEAR BRUNT OF TRUMP’S TARIFFS, DESPITE ASSURANCES FROM WHITE HOUSE
The New York Federal Reserve released a study last week that found the American consumer and companies paid about 90 percent of the tariffs that were implemented under President Donald Trump, despite promises from the White House that trading partners would bear the brunt of the costs.
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U.S. HOME SALES DROP SHARPLY, SIGNALING “NEW HOUSING CRISIS”
In January, the sale of pre-owned U.S. homes dove 8.4 percent from December’s volume and 4.4 percent below the number in January 2025 to set the slowest pace since December 2023 and the sharpest month-on-month decline since February 2022, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported.
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HEALTHCARE, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE OWN THE U.S. JOBS MARKET
Through the past three years, the number of jobs in healthcare and social assistance has grown by 12.5 percent while net job growth in all other economic sectors has totaled less than 2 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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U.S. ELECTRICITY PRICES RISING TWICE AS FAST AS INFLATION
In 2025, U.S. electricity prices rose 6.9 percent, compared to inflation’s pace of 2.9 percent, Goldman Sachs analysts have calculated. The price of power will continue escalating as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers make up 40 percent of growth in U.S. electricity demand through the rest of this decade, they said. Electricity production is growing......
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TRUMP POLICIES WILL GROW U.S. DEBT BY $1.4 TRILLION, CBO WARNS
Donald Trump’s massive tax cuts and other economic policies will add $1.4 trillion to the federal government’s debt through 2035, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in an update last week.
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CREDIT STRESS CLIMBS UP THE INCOME LADDER
Until recently, low-earning households were the almost exclusive clientele credit counselors served.
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U.S. INFLATION SLOWS MORE THAN EXPECTED IN JANUARY
Inflation’s pace in the U.S. moderated to 2.4 percent last month, led by a decline in gasoline prices amid a global oil glut and a slowdown in the rate of rent increases.
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THE AMERICAN ECONOMY CONTINUES TO SHARPEN ITS DIVIDE
The so-called “K-shaped” U.S. economy continues to widen the gap between elite, affluent spenders and the more than half of American households that struggle to pay their bills, various news outlets are reporting.
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MARKET OVERVIEW – ECONOMIC UPDATE
U.S. equity markets posted their worst week since last November, despite an encouraging inflation report and an economy that grew more jobs than many had expected.