Trade war whiplash

After a wild day in markets around the world amid President Donald Trump’s delayed tariffs against Canada and Mexico, the imposition of US levies on China and Beijing’s immediate retaliation, stocks ended on the plus side in a renewed wave of Big Tech dip buying. Following a slide fueled by uncertainties over Trump’s new trade war, equities rebounded on bullish revenue forecasts from giants like Palantir. A Bloomberg gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps climbed 1.5% while Meta rose for a 12th consecutive session—its longest winning streak ever.

On the labor front, however, the latest reading on US jobs underscored a continuing slowdown. Openings fell to 7.6 million in December, bringing the number to a three-month low, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure was below all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The so-called quits rate, which measures the percentage of people voluntarily leaving their jobs each month, stayed at 2%, suggesting people are less confident in their ability to find a new position than they were a couple years ago.

The numbers indicate job openings are back on a downward trend after big increases in recent months. That should continue to suppress wage growth and supports the Federal Reserve’s assertion that the job market is no longer a source of inflationary pressure, as it continues to execute its soft landing. —Jordan Parker Erb

What You Need to Know Today

It’s looking like the Republican Party might just confirm all of Trump’s cabinet picks, some of whom are among the most unorthodox, controversial and—as Democrats repeatedly pointed out—lacking in traditional qualifications in modern memory. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s selection to head the Department of Health and Human Services, cleared the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday. Kennedy has long expressed skepticism about vaccines and urged the cancellation of federal approval for Covid-19 shots as the disease killed hundreds of thousands of Americans (a study showed vaccines saved more than 3.2 million US lives during the pandemic). All committee Republicans voted for Kennedy, all Democrats voted against him. It was the same breakdown for former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice to be America’s national intelligence director. Gabbard, who has no traditional intelligence service experience, has expressed sympathy for Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine and, during her confirmation hearings, refused to call Edward Snowden (now a Russian citizen) a traitor. Both Kennedy and Gabbard must be approved by the full Senate.

Swedish police said at least 10 people, including the gunman, were killed in a shooting at an adult education center near Orebro, a city about 125 miles from Stockholm. Hours after what Sweden’s prime minister called the country’s worst mass shooting, there was still no final death toll, conclusive number of injured people or a motive. The school, Campus Risbergska, serves students over the age of 20, according to its website. Primary and upper secondary school courses are offered, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

Panama is considering canceling its port deal with a Hong Kong-based firm, a potential concession to defuse Trump’s threats about countering China’s influence around the Panama Canal (and of American invasion). By canceling the contracts held by Hutchison Ports PPC, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, President Jose Raul Mulino’s government would be granting a major gift to the Republican, who says he believes China has too much control over the canal.

GM’s Cruise will cut 1,000 employees as it winds down its robotaxi service. According to an internal memo, the job cuts amount to about half of Cruise’s driverless car unit, and leaders including Chief Executive Officer Marc Whitten will depart. The moves follow GM’s announcement in December that it would no longer pursue robotaxi development, citing increasing competition and “the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business.”

More than 20,000 employees—or about 1% of the federal workforce—have accepted Elon Musk’s “buyout” proposal, a deferred resignation that would give them pay through the end of September. The entire effort by the Tesla CEO on behalf of Trump may itself be illegal and is already being challenged. Musk and Trump say they hope the offer will cull about 10% of federal staff, though that number could be hard to reach: Of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees, about half are ineligible.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

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