October 1, 2025

So the saviour of the BLS jobs numbers is being replaced:

The White House has sent paperwork to the Senate to withdraw the nomination of E.J. Antoni as head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, three sources told CNN.

The withdrawal comes after CNN’s KFile reported earlier this month that Antoni operated a since-deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories, and crude insults aimed at critics of President Donald Trump.
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Antoni positioned himself as a watchdog for government accountability in media appearances and Heritage Foundation blog posts. But his own digital trail revealed a pattern of incendiary rhetoric that veered frequently into conspiracy theories and misogyny, KFile reported. (In a statement at the time, the White House defended Antoni and did not address whether he still holds the beliefs he espoused on the account in question.)
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Trump nominated Antoni in August after firing the previous commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, whom he accused without evidence of rigging jobs data. The ouster came after the July jobs report showed weak growth that month, with significant downward revisions to the May and June reports.

I’d call the Trump administration a clown show, but it’s too vulgar and nasty for that.

Lisa Cook has won a small victory:

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether President Donald Trump can temporarily fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve, setting up a blockbuster showdown over the independence of an agency with vast power over the American economy.

Cook will remain on the job until the court holds oral arguments – set for January – and decides what to do with the president’s appeal. That move came despite Trump’s request for Cook to be removed immediately.

In that sense, the order was a win for Cook – and a rare instance in which the court has decided against quickly jettisoning federal officials Trump has fired.

The high court’s brief and unsigned order came months after a majority of justices appeared to draw a line of protection around the Fed, calling the rate-setting agency a “uniquely structured” entity with a “distinct historical tradition” shielding it from presidential politics – even as the court has permitted Trump to fire leaders at other agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.69%, equivalent to 7.40% interest at the standard conversion factor of 1.3x. Long corporates yielded 4.84% on 2025-10-1, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) remains at the 255bp reported September 24.