Today's Scoop:

Hey friends, it's almost the long weekend. Markets will be closed on Monday for the holiday. We'll be back with your regularly-scheduled emails on Tuesday.

Here's what you need to know today...

1. Inflation picked back up in January.

2. Layoffs are still broadly low, despite the headlines.

3. Consumers are packing on record levels of debt.

S&P 500: 4,090.411Mo: +2% | 1Yr: -7% | 5Yr: +49%

The market sank lower today after more data pointed to a pickup in inflation in January. The economy rebounded, spending picked up, and prices started to rise.

Inflation has reared its head again. On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported a jump in consumer living costs, particularly around food, gas, and rent. Another report today showed the producer price index, measuring the cost of goods for businesses, also spiked last month by the most since last June.

Consumers are piling up debt. The New York Federal Reserve reported total consumer debt hit a record $16.9 trillion in December. Higher price tags are ballooning those figures, but debt is still growing. The number of people delinquent on their debt rose but remained historically low. Rising rates will add more pressure to debt holders' budgets.

The jobs market is still looking good. Layoffs broadly declined last week. The Labor Department reported initial unemployment claims unexpectedly sank to 194,000, a very low level. 

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• Tesla fires workers trying to unionize [🤓]

• Ford stalls F-150 EV truck over battery fires

• Raytheon sanctioned by China

• Zillow thinks the real estate outlook is foggy

• Roku keeps its stream steady

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Unions

A labor union is an organization of workers that band together to collectively bargain for improvements to their working conditions, wages, and benefits. Any industry can have a union. It starts by hosting some form of election in the workplace to acknowledge that the workers of that unit would like to unionize. Then, it expands to a more formalized agreement and negotiation process. Employers can dissuade workers from unionizing, but it's illegal to threaten or coerce them. That grey line in between is where lawyers come in. 

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