Key Takeaways Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell rebuffed the suggestion that the Federal Reserves could become more subordinate to the president under Donald Trump or that the president-elect would fire him.

Don't get baited. Stick to your knitting — but be clear and firm on issues where the law is on your side. The big picture: That's the playbook that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and the Fed used when President-elect Trump was last president and regularly pilloried the central bank for pushing interest rates too high.

Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the economy was stronger now than the central bank expected in September when it began reducing interest rates, and appeared to signal his support for a slower pace of interest-rate cuts ahead.

Friday's jobs report bolstered traders' belief that the Federal Reserve will cut its influential interest rate again in December.

The latest snapshot of the US labor market nudged the Federal Reserve closer to lowering interest rates later this month, but didn’t quite seal the deal with a key inflation report looming.

The November jobs report revealed a rebound in payrolls. However, a rise in the unemployment rate and other data support future Fed interest rate cuts.