THE UR HANDS OFF A GOLDILOCKS ECONOMY:

Donald Trump's presidency began the way Barack Obama's ended: with steady hiring, low unemployment and rising wages. But that's before any of Trump's controversial economic policies have had the chance to have an impact. [...]

Working in Trump's favor, however, are an economy and a job market that remain on fundamentally sound footing. January's job growth was broad-based, with nearly every major private industry adding jobs. The unemployment rate, by any definition, has fallen to a level most economists consider essentially normal, although there is some disagreement over how much further it can fall. And most importantly, wage growth, which was anemic for much of the recovery, has finally been showing signs of acceleration.

Interestingly, January's wage growth was partly the result of higher minimum wages that took effect in cities and states across the country on Jan. 1. Average earnings in the leisure and hospitality sector, which employs the majority of minimum-wage workers, rose 8 cents an hour in January. Trump has equivocated on the minimum wage, but his nominee to run the Labor Department, fast food CEO Andrew Puzder, is an outspoken critic of minimum wage hikes and related policies.

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