Unhedged’s Rob Armstrong on a puzzling US economy
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2023
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US donor network led by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has signalled it will oppose Donald Trump’s bid to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and European banks launch earnings season with healthy profits. Plus, the FT’s Robert Armstrong says the latest US jobs report is another piece in the US economic puzzle.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Billionaire Koch’s donor network says it opposes Trump’s re-election
UBS profits rise after Credit Suisse client defections
Deutsche Bank delays buyback decision as annual profits hit 15-year high
No signs of US slowdown in surprisingly robust jobs market
Capture: who's looking after the children? | FT Film
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The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song 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 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:09.7 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, February 6th. |
| 0:13.0 | And this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:18.5 | A powerful conservative network says it won't back Donald Trump, |
| 0:22.1 | and European banks are getting a boost from rising interest rates. |
| 0:26.4 | But first, we'll chat with the FT's Rob Armstrong about the puzzle that is the US economy right now. |
| 0:32.5 | Well, I'm confused, and I think everybody is. |
| 0:35.8 | I'm Mark Philippineau, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:47.8 | Financial markets start the week off with a bit of a head scratcher. |
| 0:51.2 | The question is, what is going on with the US economy? |
| 0:54.9 | Is it cooling? Is it still going strong? |
| 0:57.6 | Investors have been acting like it's slowing, and they've piled into stocks and bonds, |
| 1:02.2 | thinking that the Federal Reserve will pause or even cut interest rates. |
| 1:06.0 | Markets even surged after last week's rate rise from the Fed. |
| 1:10.3 | Then we got this report on Friday saying jobs growth is going strong. |
| 1:16.3 | To puzzle over all this, I'm joined by the FT's US financial commentator Rob Armstrong. |
| 1:21.5 | Hey Rob. |
| 1:22.8 | Hi, how are you? |
| 1:24.7 | So Rob, this latest jobs report from January shows that the US actually added a half a million new jobs, |
| 1:30.9 | and I got to tell you, this surprised everyone, especially because we've been hearing a lot about |
| 1:36.0 | tech layoffs, tens of thousands of jobs being lost in this sector alone. |
... |
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