Possible contender: Former state Attorney General’s candidate Marty Maley says he is mulling a run to become Baton Rouge’s next mayor. Maley says he will make a decision in the next 30 days. He did not plan to run for another seat so quickly after being ousted from the AG’s race in November—a race ultimately won by Jeff Landry over incumbent Buddy Caldwell—but some influential people have approached him about running, he says. Having spent all the money from his campaign war chest in the run for AG, Maley says he would need some financial backing and the support of the state Republican Party to make the run. Metro Councilman John Delgado and state Sen. Sharon Weston Broome have announced they will run and former Councilman R.J. “Smokie” Bourgeois has also suggested he may run.
Trending up: American employers added 292,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate held steady at 5%, according to the monthly jobs report released today by the Labor Department. The Associated Press reports the strong figures underscore the resilience of the U.S. economy at a time of financial turmoil stemming from China’s slowing economy and plummeting stock market. Most economists expect U.S. consumer spending to continue to offset any drag from overseas weakness, though many foresee only modest U.S. growth. For all of 2015, employers added 2.65 million jobs, a monthly average of 221,000. That made 2015 the second-best year for hiring since 1999, after 2014’s gain of 3.2 million jobs. Read the full story.
Going down: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 400 points Thursday as steep falls in Chinese equities spilled over to global markets. The Wall Street Journal reports the selloff came after the People’s Bank of China made its largest downward adjustment to the yuan since August. The Dow industrials dropped 392.41 points, or 2.3%, to 16514.10. The S&P 500 dropped 2.4%. Both indexes are off to their worst starts ever, with the Dow down 5.2% over the first four trading days of the year and the S&P 500 off 4.9%. The Nasdaq Composite, which declined 3% on Thursday, is having its worst start since 2000, down 6.4%. Read the full story.
