Jobs Tuesday: NEC Director Hassett on Employment Report, the Fed and AI 12/16/25

Carl Quintanilla, Jim Cramer and David Faber led off the show with market reaction to employment data that had been delayed due to the government shutdown. Job creation in November was stronger than expected, but the unemployment rate rose last month to 4.6%— and October payrolls showed a shedding of jobs. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett joined the program with White House reaction to the data. He and the anchors also discussed Hassett in the running to become Fed chair, Fed rate policy and inflation, growth prospects for 2026 and the AI boom. Also in focus: Ford's $19.5 billion hit and EV pullback, Pfizer full-year guidance disappoints, the AI trade and a flashback with CoreWeave's CEO, Comcast update. Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant. Squawk on the Street Disclaimer