The U.S. economy started 2026 in a state of excellent balance: strong growth, a solid job market and subdued inflation. Just don't look too closely.
The big picture: The key headline numbers in recent days — on jobs and inflation— appear as good as they have been in some time. Still, there are also warnings in the data that the story is not quite as rosy as headline numbers might suggest.
It's the Goldilocks economy — neither too hot nor too cold, so long as you don't focus on the details.
Casey Wasserman, the veteran Hollywood talent agent who also chairs the LA28 Olympic committee, is selling his agency amid a growing controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Why it matters: Wasserman has seen a few high-profile celebrity clients exit in response to revelations about suggestive emails he sent to Maxwell that were revealed as part of the Epstein files.
Elon Musk took a victory lap Friday as a Department of Government Efficiency team released a huge trove of Medicaid spending data he said the public could use to look for fraud themselves.
Why it matters: The Trump administration often cites waste, fraud and abuse as justification for deep program cuts — including the nearly $1 trillion in reductions to federal Medicaid spending in last year's Republican budget bill.
