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(Reuters) -The U.S. job market again defied an anticipated slowdown, with firms adding more than a quarter of a million jobs in the final month of 2024 and leaving Federal Reserve policymakers to puzzle over the need for more interest rate cuts in a strong economy. The unemployment rate, as reported in the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2%. In another footnote on the Fed's confidence in further rate cuts and a further slowdown of inflation, consumers now expect prices over the coming year to increase 3.3%, a sharp jump from prior months, a separate University of Michigan sentiment survey showed.

Damian Williams, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, will return to law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in New York, the firm said on Friday. Williams was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2021 by outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden. He announced in November that he would step down ahead of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. inflation data in the coming week could test the nerves of stock investors and further inflame worries about rising Treasury yields and uncertainty over Donald Trump's policy plans. After back-to-back standout years, the stock market has wobbled out of the gate in 2025, with the benchmark S&P 500 down about 1% so far this year. A revival of inflation is seen as one of the key risks facing equities, with the Federal Reserve already pulling back on its projected interest rate cuts because it expects inflation to rise at a faster pace than it had previously anticipated.

(Bloomberg) -- US consumers’ long-term inflation expectations jumped to the highest since 2008 on concerns about potential tariffs from the incoming Trump administration.Most Read from BloombergWhat Robotaxis Brought San FranciscoA Blueprint for Better Bike LanesNYC Condo Owners May Bear Costs of Landmark Green Building LawAmbitious High-Speed Rail Plans Advance in the Baltic RegionNYC’s Subway Violence Deters Drive to Bring Workers Back to OfficeAmericans expect prices will climb at an annual r

U.S. stocks are recoiling on worries that Friday’s good news on the job market may be too good and prove to be bad for Wall Street by keeping inflation and interest rates high. Stocks took their cue from the bond market, where yields leaped to crank up the pressure after a report from the Labor Department said U.S. employers added many more jobs to their payrolls last month than economists expected.

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) -The United States will impose some of the harshest sanctions yet on Russia's oil industry, according to a purported U.S. Treasury document circulating among traders in Europe and Asia that drove global oil prices 3% higher on Friday. Some 180 vessels, dozens of traders, two major oil companies and some senior Russian oil executives, are designated in the sanctions, reports of which pushed global oil prices above $80 per barrel. Reuters could not immediately verify the veracity of the document and the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. job growth unexpectedly accelerated in December while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% as the labor market ended the year on a solid footing, reinforcing views that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates unchanged this month. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed a decline last month in the number of people who have permanently lost their jobs and a shortening in the median duration of unemployment. A rise in these measures had raised concerns about labor market deterioration.