The Federal Reserve announced another quarter-point interest-rate reduction at the end of its meeting this week, although it signaled that it may pause in the future. "We're well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves from here," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. The meeting showed an unusual amount of division, with three officials dissenting from the decision.

Home Depot has signaled caution in its guidance for fiscal 2026, expecting flat to 2% same-store sales growth. The company attributes this cautious outlook to subdued demand for do-it-yourself projects and big-ticket home improvement items, citing ongoing consumer spending pressures and a lack of positive momentum in the housing market.

The US economy is likely to slow in 2026, according to the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index. The LEI dropped by 0.3% to 98.3 in September following a similar decline in August. This marks a 2.1% fall over the last six months, an acceleration from the previous period. The index, which aggregates data from ten economic indicators, is signaling a potential downturn in the business cycle as consumer and business expectations weaken.

US container imports dropped 7.8% in November compared to a year earlier, driven by a nearly 20% decline in imports from China, according to Descartes Systems Group. Despite this decrease, November marked the fourth-strongest November in history, trailing only 2020, 2021 and 2024. The lower import volumes point to more cautious ordering by US importers amid economic and trade policy uncertainties.

Procurement strategies that prioritize cost savings over resilience can leave organizations vulnerable to cyberthreats and supply chain disruptions, Maman Ibrahim writes. Historical incidents such as the SolarWinds breach and the Colonial Pipeline hack illustrate the real-world costs of neglecting cyberresilience, Ibrahim writes, adding that procurement should integrate cybersecurity due diligence, resilience metrics and cross-functional governance to balance cost efficiency with risk management.

In a landscape where buyers are increasingly skeptical of vendor promises, trust has become a crucial factor in B2B purchasing decisions. Alexander Kesler reveals that buyers spend 75% of their journey researching anonymously and are almost twice as likely to choose vendors they trust. Kesler recommends a layered trust framework that focuses on technical trust, peer validation, and continuous value to build credibility early in the buying process.

The US job market remained steady despite a slight increase in layoffs, according to the Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Job openings increased by more than 400,000 to 7.67 million in October, the highest in five months. Hiring declined by 218,000, and layoffs increased to 1.85 million, the most since early 2023. The layoff rate rose to 1.2% in October, up from 1.1% in August, while the quit rate dropped to 1.8%, indicating cautious worker sentiment.

President Donald Trump has confirmed that he is considering reducing tariffs on some goods while maintaining or increasing tariffs that have attracted investment and revitalized industries such as automotive and semiconductor manufacturing. Roughly $18 trillion in investment pledges are reportedly linked to tariff relief.

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