▸ Two important jobs reports were released Wednesday and the results were, annoyingly, contradictory.
The number of job openings in the United States fell to 10.8 million in January, down from an upwardly revised 11.23 million in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday as part of its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS.
At the same time. private businesses added more jobs than forecast in February, according to ADP. The payroll company estimated that 242,000 jobs were added last month, higher than the forecast of 200,000 and more than double the revised 119,000 added in January.
Investors, and the Federal Reserve, will be looking for greater clarity on the state of the labor market in the official jobs numbers due out Friday morning.
Fed officials have expressed concern that a tight labor market could keep upward pressure on wages and, in turn, inflation.
▸ The gap between home-seekers and actual homes widened significantly last year. New data shows that the US housing market is now short 6.5 million homes.
The rate of overall housing starts slowed in 2022 while completions climbed. In 2022, roughly 1 million single-family homes were started, which is 10.6% fewer than in 2021, though still more than in any other single year back to 2012.
Want to dig deeper? Check out Before the Bell's interview with David O'Reilly, CEO of the real estate developer Howard Hughes Corp.
▸ My CNN colleague Brian Fung reports: US senators said Wednesday that bipartisan support is growing for revising a federal law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that essentially grants immunity to tech platforms and websites regarding what they publish.
"Here's a message to Big Tech: Reform is coming," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chaired a technology subcommittee hearing to consider changes to the law.
Lawmakers from both parties praised the Supreme Court for considering Section 230 when it heard Gonzalez v. Google, a case about whether YouTube can be sued for algorithmically suggesting terrorist-created videos to users.
The case could have major repercussions for how social media sites rank, present and promote content online.
But the senators said that, however the Court rules, it is up to Congress to rewrite the law so that members of the public can take platforms to court and hold them accountable.
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