Trump brushes off early posting of confidential jobs figures

In an unusual move, President Donald Trump posted a graph Thursday night on social media that reflected jobs data from December that weren’t supposed to be released until the Labor Department issued the monthly employment report Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. eastern. The monthly jobs numbers are a closely guarded secret because they can cause sharp swings in financial markets when released. It showed a small drop in the unemployment rate, to 4.4%, and a modest job gain, reassuring economists that hiring hasn't fallen off a cliff after the economy shed jobs in August and October.