The Balance Today: News You Need To Know on Nov. 1, 2022

In another sign of strength from the nation’s labor market, job openings in the U.S. climbed to 10.7 million by the end of September, up from 10.3 million in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released this morning. 

The largest increases were in hospitality and food services, with a gain of 215,000 positions, followed by the health care and social assistance industry, which added 115,000 new roles. Employers are still looking for workers and the job market remains relatively tight, and that reinforces the likelihood the Federal Reserve will keep aggressively hiking interest rates to curb inflation. 

It’s largely expected that the Fed will hand us an interest rate hike of 75 basis points this week, but what comes after? That’s what we will all be focused on tomorrow when Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives his speech and answers questions from reporters. While we should anticipate that interest rates will jump, the future decisions from the central bank will be important to us all.

Why? 

Well, until this point, the economy has remained pretty resilient amid increasing pressure from the Fed. While average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have soared above 7%, many people still want to buy homes, keeping the housing market hot. Inflation remains persistently, and stubbornly, high, and the high interest rates meant to slow down economic growth haven’t made a big dent in the jobs market as employers continue to hire and unemployment remains relatively low.

So the question remains: How much will the Fed put us through to bring down inflation? It’s a question that will impact us all, as the higher rates go, the more likely a recession becomes. And as the Fed continues to raise rates, we’ll have to shell out more money to pay off our credit card debt, secure new home loans, and more.