Also: Uncle Sam’s new approach to student-loan collection, a golden opportunity in the bond market, and how to determine whether we are heading into a recession.

Trump said last week his administration would proceed with plans to designate tens of thousands of federal workers as "at will" employees involved in policy decisions, stripping them of civil service protections.

Trump recently made another change in that vein that takes effect in a few months, and it could make getting Social Security checks more complicated for more than 485,000 Americans.