CBS News
Labor market tops expectations again: 275,000 jobs added in February
The U.S. economy crafted another monthly of unexpectedly solid hiring in February, illustrating a robust labor market.
The Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls report had the U.S. economy adding 275,000 jobs last month versus expectations of 200,000, according to a survey of economists by data firm FactSet. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 3.9% from 3.7%.
That figure is down from January’s unexpectedly strong tally of 353,000 and 333,000 in December.
A month ago, the numbers showed a hotter-than-expected labor market, prompting Wall Street to reconsider its expectations for rate cuts this year.
In speaking to lawmakers on Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank is “not far” from a decision to cut its benchmark rate as it attempts to steer the economy to a soft landing and bypass a recession.
Powell previously indicated the Fed was not thinking about a rate cut at its next meeting later this month, shifting investors’ focus to potential rate cuts in the middle of the year.
CBS News
Christopher Ciccone, artist and Madonna’s younger brother, dies at 63
Christopher Ciccone, an artist and former dancer who was also singer Madonna’s younger brother, has died, his rep Brad Taylor confirmed to CBS News. He was 63.
He died from cancer on Oct. 4, surrounded by his husband, Ray Thacker, Taylor said in a statement.
Born on Nov. 22, 1960, in Pontiac, Michigan, Ciccone was an artist, interior decorator and designer, who began his career as a dancer. He joined the Le Group de La Palace Royale in Ottawa in 1980 before moving to New York two years later to support his older sister’s music career as a backup dancer.
As Madonna’s career grew, Ciccone became more involved — serving as the art director on his sister’s Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and as the tour director for her The Girlie Show in 1993. He also directed music videos for megastars Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett in the 1990s.
His role expanded away from music when Ciccone took on the role of interior designer within the homes his sister owned and occupied in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.
In 2012, Ciccone released his own shoe line, The Ciccone Collection, at London Fashion Week.
He told CBS News at the time that his goal is to make the brand “accessible to everybody” and not too pricey.
“The great thing about doing shoes is that potentially everyone could have a pair. When you’re doing art, there’s only one,” Ciccone said
Ciccone, who was openly gay, claimed that his sister outed him during her 1991 interview with The Advocate.
Ciccone released a tell-all autobiography called “Life With My Sister Madonna,” leading to reports that the two had been estranged, but Ciccone told CBS News in 2012 that he was glad he wrote the book.
“I don’t regret any of that,” he said. “I think because of that it sort of led me to this. It gave people an opportunity to think of me as a creative person, as an artist and not just as Madonna’s brother, which is a tag I’m going to wear forever,” Ciccone said in 2012. “But I’m hopeful that at some point it will be Christopher Ciccone first. It’s cool…I’m perfectly happy being what I am.”
The two eventually made up.
“Our relationship is fine as far as I’m concerned,” he told CBS News.
Ciccone and Thacker — a British-born actor — married in 2016.
Ciccone’s death comes fewer than two weeks after the death of his and Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, from cancer. His eldest brother Anthony died in 2023.
CBS News
One year after Oct. 7 attack, the toll on civilians remains high
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CBS News
Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 6, 2024
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