Former President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters as he leaves Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on August 3, 2025. This was immediately following his high-profile headline-grabber firing Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commish Erika McEntarfer. It was the bad news of a dismal jobs report that prompted this decision. The report showed further evidence of a great deceleration in job creation across the U.S. economy. MCC Trump’s actions are taking place in the context of growing economic anxieties and confused signaling from financial markets.
After the lukewarm jobs report showed that the U.S. economy averaged only 35,000 new jobs in the three months ending in July, Trump did just that. Now, almost two years later, he publicly shamed McEntarfer for those underwhelming numbers. He even accused her of faking data and was unhappy that the figures shown were made public.
“The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP’ despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates.” – Donald Trump
Job growth has experienced a historic regression. It fell from an average of around 128,000 new jobs a month in the last three-month period, spooking many analysts and investors. Employers are bringing on new workers at their slowest pace since 2020. This slowdown isn’t just troubling to the arts sector—it’s troubling in terms of the overall health of our economy.
Despite the challenges, Trump leaped onto social media to tout his economic successes. He boldly asserted that his administration’s policies are responsible for creating that growth. New data on gross domestic product (GDP) indicates that the U.S. economy had a disappointing annualized growth rate of only 1.2% for the first half of 2025. This number is a staggering drop from last year’s 2.8% growth rate. This unexpected slowdown has deepened the sense of crisis that has enveloped financial markets.
On Friday, the first clue that stock indexes are getting worried. Recession fears returned and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.4%. These declines point to the fact that traders are becoming more worried about what a weak jobs report would mean.
Formerly resected market analyst Ed Yardeni noted, “The markets tend to zero in on the earnings,” even with the recent turmoil. He cited the fact that some of the most recent economic data has turned out disappointing. He added that “They’ve been pretty impressive considering some of the economic data has looked soft of late,” indicating a belief that corporate earnings may withstand broader economic challenges.
Consumer spending, which constitutes approximately two-thirds of economic activity, did show signs of improvement over the three months ending in June. While a noticeably misleading increase, we’ll take the good positive news wherever we can get it in an otherwise downward trend in job numbers.
Market sentiment continues to be very complicated as traders continue to juggle multiple economic data points. Steve Sosnick, a well-known market strategist, pointed out that “the mindset of the market is to embrace risk because that brings rewards rather than losses — keep shrugging it off.” He went on to clarify that most think the rate cut is what the market needs most. He stressed that the choices made in monetary policy can go a long way in changing the fundamental market dynamics.
Other analysts are warning not to expect too much too soon. Jay Ritter underscored the overarching market sentiment, noting that “there’s certainly a scenario where the market is making a mistake on inflation.” He argues that traders are failing to grasp the way that spiking prices could damage long-run economic health.
Perhaps Trump’s most controversial decision was to use Section 232 to impose a sweeping round of tariffs affecting nearly 70 countries. While aimed at bolstering American industries and reducing trade deficits, these tariffs introduce additional complexities into an already fragile economic landscape.
