It is too soon to know whether the United States is on a similar path. But economists and other experts said that Mr. Trump’s decision on Friday to fire Erika McEntarfer, the Senate-confirmed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was a troubling step in that direction.

Big Tech may be thriving, but after an action-packed week of earnings and economic data, it’s hard to be bullish about much else. If you’re interested in understanding the current state of the U.S. economy and corporate America,