The Federal Reserve is set to make its third interest rate cut this year but will be without updated labor data because of the government shutdown. Doctors say the controversial vote to not recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns is creating chaos for parents. And how the Netflix and Paramount battle for Warner Bros. Discovery could affect awards season.
Here's what to know today.
What to expect at the Fed’s rate-setting meeting
The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates today for the third time this year.
Traders overwhelmingly expect a relatively small 0.25% cut, just as the last two have been. But the Fed's rate-setting meeting takes place against the fog of a data blackout because of the prolonged federal government shutdown.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the September jobs report, but the October report was canceled, and the November report remains a work in progress. The delayed jobs report is set to be released next week.
Just like the jobs report, October's consumer price index was canceled and the November inflation data will also arrive late.
All the while, alternative data has pointed to a slowing labor market. Payroll processor ADP's most recent monthly private jobs report showed small businesses shedding 120,000 jobs. Nationwide, ADP said, a net 32,000 jobs were lost.
That leaves the Fed mostly in the dark as it tries to balance both the labor market and inflation at the same time.
There's also the overhang of President Donald Trump's tariffs. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case involving Trump's use of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and could issue a ruling on the fate of those tariffs any day.
Trump touts 'affordability' message in a midterm battleground district
It began with a quip about election fraud and a tirade against Somali immigrants before Trump eventually steered his speech in Pennsylvania to the economy and affordability, amid economic anxiety among voters. Trump told the crowd he is prioritizing "making America affordable again" and that "affordability" is a "new word" concocted by Democrats to criticize him.
Trump brought allies — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — to back him up. Bessent suggested that Trump has already fixed America's economic problems, saying the president has put an end to immigration, interest rates and inflation while blaming former President Joe Biden for the issues.
But that message is at odds with what most Americans tell pollsters — and what most voters who spoke to NBC News in northeastern Pennsylvania said — which is that they believe prices are too high and are worried about the state of the economy. Trump's decision to hold a rally in Pennsylvania, which White House officials say will be the first in a series, reflects sensitivity to both Americans' perceptions of his performance and Republicans' chances of keeping their House majority if it doesn't land.
More politics news:
- Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayoral race, NBC News projected, giving the party control of the office for the first time in almost three decades in another victory for Democrats ahead of next year's pivotal midterm elections.
- Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Spencer Cox of Utah sat for a wide-ranging interview with "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, as the Democratic and Republican leaders have been at the forefront of handling political violence in their states.
- Senate Republicans said they'll offer a bill written by two key committee chairs as an alternative to extending billions of dollars in Affordable Care Act funds that are expiring this month.
- The Trump administration announced a deal to officially end a major student loan repayment program implemented under Biden.
- Trump said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's "days are numbered" and declined to comment on whether the U.S. could send troops to the country.
- Rod Paige, an educator, coach and administrator who rolled out the landmark No Child Left Behind law as the first African American to serve as U.S. education secretary, has died at age 92.
Confusion over CDC panel's hepatitis B guidance could disrupt care for babies
Doctors, hospitals and public health departments are scrambling to ensure proper care for pregnant women and their babies following a controversial vote from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers that reversed decades of standard medical practice giving newborns the hepatitis B vaccine.
The CDC's vaccine panel advised that only babies born to women who test positive for hepatitis B should get the first dose within 24 hours of delivery. The decision rolled back decades-long guidance that all newborns should be protected against the lifelong, incurable infection that can lead to liver disease and cancer. Many babies in the U.S., however, are born to women who never have the chance to be tested.
Experts said the advisory panel, stacked with members handpicked by Health Secretary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to provide the kind of scientific evidence historically associated with the CDC to back up its reasoning. Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Medicine and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases, said the fallout is causing "chaos and confusion" among public health experts trying to counsel clinicians on best practices, as well as doctors in exam rooms faced with worried parents.
Read All About It
- María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, will not attend Wednesday’s ceremony in Oslo, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready for elections, appearing to bow to pressure from Trump who has called on Ukraine to hold a national vote during the war with Russia.
- An Army gynecologist has been criminally charged following an NBC News investigation into allegations that he secretly videotaped patients during exams.
- Mitt Romney's sister-in-law died by suicide in Southern California this year, the medical examiner's office said.
- Grammy-nominated opera singer Jubilant Sykes was fatally stabbed at his Southern California home, authorities said.
- A mysterious interstellar comet has been taking a tour of our solar system in recent months, garnering intense interest from astronomers and space enthusiasts alike.
- Two days after Notre Dame followed its snub by the College Football Playoff by withdrawing from the postseason entirely, the school's athletic director called the university's relationship with the Atlantic Coast Conference "strained."
Staff Pick: One negotiation after another
Typically covering Hollywood awards season is about the movies, stars and glamorous gowns. But this year I'm finding that there is a larger question looming over all those red carpets: Are any of these people going to have jobs in two years?
Thanks to AI, changing audience habits and industry contraction, Hollywood is a hotbed of anxiety right now. This past week, the announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery had agreed to sell its film, TV and streaming assets to Netflix represented yet another seismic change. Before the town had time to process that news, Paramount-Skydance responded with its own hostile takeover bid for WBD, one of the last five remaining traditional studios in Hollywood.
In talks with Hollywood insiders this week, I learned that many are thinking about the pending WBD deal as they contemplate their Oscar ballots. Some told me they are inclined to reward the Warner Bros. films in contention, "One Battle After Another" and "Sinners," while the studio still exists in its current form. Others said that a resentment of Netflix's growing power is coloring their view of the streamer's contenders, including films like Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein," the George Clooney vehicle "Jay Kelly" and the hit animated musical "K-Pop Demon Hunters."
Oscar voters are supposed to consider only one thing when they evaluate a film, its quality. But as I'm learning, in a moment when people feel like they don't have power over much in their lives, having a say in who gets a little gold statuette suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. — Rebecca Keegan, senior Hollywood reporter
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