The Morning: An economic pulse check
The New York Times <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
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2025-09-17 12:57
Good morning. Here’s the latest.
More news is below. First, we examine the state of the economy.
Pulse check
The Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates today. That will likely please President Trump, who has been calling for lower borrowing costs since he took office (though he wants even bigger cuts). It also gives us a clue as to how central bankers view the economy. How do they decide how the economy is doing? They look at metrics like hiring, consumer spending and prices. And they talk to businesses and consumers across the country to detect trends that take time to show up in the official data. What they want is a labor market in which jobs are plentiful and unemployment is as low as it can be without causing prices to rise too much. They also want to ensure that inflation stays low and stable. So just how healthy is the economy? The case for worryTrump says Americans are experiencing the “best economy we’ve ever had.” Experts say the economy is solid, but the labor market looks much more wobbly than it did at the start of the year. They’re worried about several issues:
The case for hopeYet in other ways the economy is humming along. Companies are not laying off workers in droves, and people are still spending money.
Knightly offered one caution, though: Lower- and middle-income households are under immense strain. If they keep having to tighten their belts, he wondered: “How long can this last?” Related: The Fed meeting has brought together a Trump ally and people who have been targets of Trump’s outrage.
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The president sued The New York Times on Monday for $15 billion, saying our 2024 campaign coverage had defamed him and sought to undermine his campaign. The suit cites articles that document his rise, the accusations made against him, his time on “The Apprentice” and the views of a former top general. “It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a spokesman for The Times said. Trump has sued several news organizations this year in an apparent effort to soften coverage of him. Many have settled — and altered their coverage. Speaking at a journalism conference on Monday night, our publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, compared these efforts to the “anti-press playbook used in places like Hungary, India, Brazil and Turkey.” The playbook has five components, he said:
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This question comes from a recent edition of the newsletter. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link will be free. Hint: This story was the most-clicked story in the newsletter yesterday.) Denmark and Greenland, its faraway territory, have been arguing recently because:
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Enchanting: The isles off Scotland’s coast offer otherworldly beauty. The views go great with a splash of whisky. Something out of sci-fi: An ant in the Mediterranean is having babies that belong to a different species. Hairy times: What’s with all the beards? Speed on two wheels: John Penton, whose motorcycles revolutionized off-road racing, died at 100. In 1959, he set a transcontinental speed record, riding across the U.S. in 52 hours 11 minutes 1 second.
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Robert Redford, who died yesterday at 89, was a quintessential leading man — seductive and daring, clever and strong, with a smile that shone through in films like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men.” Yet he so resisted being forced into a mold that he fled Hollywood for Utah, where he made perhaps his biggest contribution to film: Founding the Sundance Institute and, through its festival, ushering in a new generation of American filmmaking. As Manohla Dargis, a Times film critic, writes: He created a place where artists could cut loose, find community and make movies that he would never have starred in, much less directed himself. Unlike many in Hollywood, Redford sought something greater than himself, and he found it. Americans have been searching for Redford online. Here’s more coverage:
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Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were confluence and flounce. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misattributed a quotation about Israel’s incursion in Gaza City. Israel’s military did not say that troops would “surround Gaza City from all sides.” Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Amelia Nierenberg contributed to this newsletter.
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