Wall Street think U.S. jobs number is implausible

[https://fortune.com/2026/02/12/stocks-wall-street-us-jobs-number-fed-rate-cuts/](https://fortune.com/2026/02/12/stocks-wall-street-us-jobs-number-fed-rate-cuts/) No paywall: [https://archive.is/20260212210956/https://fortune.com/2026/02/12/stocks-wall-street-us-jobs-number-fed-rate-cuts/](https://archive.is/20260212210956/https://fortune.com/2026/02/12/stocks-wall-street-us-jobs-number-fed-rate-cuts/) From the article: *"A couple of analysts are worried that the latest number might be wrong, and that the level of job creation in the U.S. is lower than the stats suggest. First, the number of jobs added in January was roughly double analysts’ expectations. Analysts aren’t always right, of course. But it is interesting that the reported number was way out of line with economists’ estimates. Second, the BLS revised downward the number of jobs it previously reported for 2024–25. The real number was just 181,000, the agency said, and not the 584,000 it had estimated earlier."* In unrelated news, Trump [fired the previous head of Labor statistics](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3xrrzdr0o) about 6 months ago for publishing numbers that "make the Republicans, and ME, look bad".