Bessent criticized the weak jobs data released Friday, extending recent administration claims that the numbers aren't correct and haven't been collected properly. (Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the August report, and said without evidence that the BLS rigged the data against him.) "President Trump was elected for change, and we are going to push through with the economic policies that are going to set the economy right," Bessent said. "I believe by the fourth quarter we are going to see a substantial acceleration."
Rising energy, labour, and supply costs, coupled with higher taxation, continue to erode margins for businesses in the night-time economy.
The S&P 500 is up 10% year-to-date, powered by the 'Magnificent Seven' tech giants whose foreign-heavy revenues are being boosted by the weaker dollar. Concentration in the top 10 stocks is at its highest since the 1960s, with earnings strength - 83% of companies beating estimates - driving sentiment.
Bret Baier mentioned the economic contraction concerns while discussing President Trump's claims about the new trade agreement with China, emphasizing its incompleteness.
"If current trends hold, average global growth for the 2020s would reach just 2.5 per cent - making this the worst-performing decade for the world economy since the 1960s."
