A wacky US jobs report
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US economy added 130,000 jobs in January, beating market expectations, and documents appear to contradict testimony Jes Staley gave about his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Plus, Bangladesh is holding its first elections since 2024's mass uprising.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Epstein trustee document contradicts Jes Staley testimony
US economy far outstrips expectations to add 130,000 jobs in January
After 17 years in exile, dynastic heir looks to lead Bangladesh
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Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Fiona Symon, Victoria Craig and Sonja Hutson. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from David da Silva. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s Global Head of Audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Thursday, February 12th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:08.8 | Jess Staley appears to have been closer to Jeffrey Epstein than he said, and the latest U.S. Jobs report was red hot. |
| 0:15.7 | We're going to dig into the numbers. Plus, Bangladesh goes to the polls today in its most important election in decades. |
| 0:23.4 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:35.3 | We have more revelations on the high-profile names connected to Jeffrey Epstein, this time former Barclays CEO Jess Staley. |
| 0:43.6 | Newly released documents from the U.S. Department of Justice appear to contradict testimony he gave about his involvement with the late convicted sex offender. |
| 0:51.5 | The documents show Staley was named as a trustee of Epstein's estate |
| 0:55.2 | up until at least 2015. But he told a UK court last year that he had declined a request from |
| 1:01.9 | Epstein to take up that position. This testimony was part of Staley's effort to overturn a lifetime |
| 1:07.0 | ban from the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA barred him over his ties to |
| 1:11.7 | Epstein. A lawyer for Staley did not respond to multiple requests for comment, the FCA |
| 1:17.1 | declined to comment. Staley has maintained that he and Epstein had a, quote, close professional |
| 1:22.9 | relationship, but they were not friends, and that he was not aware of Epstein's activities. |
| 1:33.8 | We got some unexpected news about the U.S. jobs market yesterday. |
| 1:37.8 | The economy added 130,000 jobs in January that was almost double what economists expected. But the number of jobs added over |
| 1:47.1 | the course of the last year has been revised down. Here to explain what this says about the U.S. |
| 1:53.0 | economy is the FTs Miles McCormick. Hi, Miles. Hey, Mark. All right, so let's start with this |
| 1:57.8 | blockbuster number, 130,000 new jobs in January. How big of a deal is that? Yeah, so let's start with this blockbuster number. 130,000 new jobs in January. |
| 2:02.2 | How big of a deal is that? |
| 2:04.5 | Yeah, so it's pretty significant. |
| 2:06.0 | I mean, as you say, it's like way bigger than what the markets had been expecting. |
| 2:11.0 | This is the biggest increase in jobs numbers for over a year. |
... |
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