Unemployment climbed to 4.6 percent as core CPI slowed to 2.6 percent in November, raising questions about the 2.7 percent headline that may be biased by missing October price data after the federal funding shutdown.The Federal Reserve has cut its policy rate to a range of 3.5–3.75 percent — its third cut since September — but officials are split and say they will watch further inflation and jobs data before deciding on additional easing.Economists such as Gregory Daco and Lydia Boussour called the labor market "growingly fragile," while companies and local authorities including Ford, National Grid and Harvard announced charges, rate requests and probes that underscore wider economic stress.