Friends
Today’s jobs report just didn’t cause that much of a stir. 156,000 new jobs were created which was a little shy of analyst’s estimates, while the unemployment rate ticked back up to 5%. Average hourly earnings were up .20 % bringing the year over year number to 2.6%. So, at least wages continue to creep upward. Markets greeted all of this with a collective yawn. At its worst, the Dow was down more than 100 points, but recovered most of those points by the close.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 28 points to close at 18,240. The S&P 500 was down 7 points to finish the day at 2,153. Gold was up $3 to trade at $1,256 per ounce, while oil was down $.70 to trade at $49.74 per barrel WTI.
Now, with the jobs report behind us – and it didn’t move the needle today- traders will be focusing on the upcoming earnings season. We already got a pre warning from industrial giant Honeywell today, so it will be interesting to see what corporate America has in store and how share prices will react. Of course, politics will be making the headlines until November, but we’ll be more focused on this earnings season to see if the “earnings recession” has run its course yet, or not.
Have a great weekend everyone.
