Friends
This morning’s jobs report was met by traders with a collective yawn. 161,000 new jobs were created in October which was a little shy of expectations, but both August and September were revised upward. The unemployment rate moved back down to 4.9%, while the average hourly wage number saw a better than expected bump of 0.4%, and now 2.8% on a year over year basis. So at least we are seeing some increase in wages which should help make the Fed’s case should they want to raise rates in December.
As mentioned, the markets had very little response to the jobs number as investors seem content to sit on their hands until we get this election behind us. More than selling pressure it feels like a buying strike as traders take a wait and see approach. But, stocks have now fallen for 9 straight trading sessions and we haven’t seen that since 1980.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42 points to close at 17,888. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to finish the day at 2085. Gold was up $2.39 to trade at $1,305 per ounce, while oil was down $.55 to trade at $44.11 per barrel WTI. Natural Gas was up $.013 to trade at $2.782.
Next up is the election. It should be an interesting week coming up.
Have a great weekend everyone.
