By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job growth likely slowed to a still-healthy clip in December while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s cautious approach toward interest rate cuts this year.
The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday will probably not be clouded by the weather and strike distortions that dominated in October and November.
The labor market would be ending the year on solid footing, though fears are mounting that pledges by President-elect Donald Trump to impose or massively raise tariffs on imports and deport millions of undocumented immigrants could derail momentum.
Those worries were evident in minutes of the U.S. central bank’s Dec. 17-18 policy meeting published on Wednesday, which noted “most participants remarked that … the Committee could take a careful approach in considering” further cuts.
“The labor market is not as tight as…
