“Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed on Wednesday to a job-market risk that economists have been worried about for months: Official statistics could be drastically overstating recent hiring,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Powell said that Fed staffers believe that federal data could be overestimating job creation by up to 60,000 jobs a month. Given that figures published so far show that the economy has added about 40,000 jobs a month since April, the real number could be something more like a loss of 20,000 jobs a month.”

New York Times: “For steakhouses like Halls, December is the biggest month of the year. It’s when companies rent out private back rooms for lavish parties; corporate expense accounts cover two-martini lunches; and families treat themselves to a night of steaks, bottles of cabernet sauvignon and sides of creamed spinach, truffle mac and cheese and au gratin potatoes.”

“But this holiday season, many steakhouses — from fine-dining restaurants to midpriced chains like Texas Roadhouse and LongHorn Steakhouse — are walking a tightrope. They have to balance raising menu prices enough to cover at least some of their expenses, but not so much that consumers stop walking through their doors.”

Tara Palmeri: “Trump made a quiet admission that his tariffs aren’t working as intended: he rolled out a $12 billion bailout for farmers.”

“The irony is hard to miss. This is a president who loves the word ‘tariffs,’ but ‘socialism’ is one of his harshest insults, second only to communism. Yet here he is, redistributing wealth from one group of Americans to another because his voters, farmers, are hurting.”