Friends
The non-farm payroll number came in just about as expected, with 178,000 new jobs created in November. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% which is its lowest reading since August 2007. Unfortunately average hourly earnings slipped 0.10% which was somewhat unexpected (and seemed to help bonds rally just a bit). All in all, though, the employment report should be good enough for the Fed as they look to increase rates this month.
Stocks had little reaction to the jobs report as the market averages drifted aimlessly most of the trading session. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to close at 19,170. The S&P 500 was up a fraction to finish the day at 2191. Gold was up $6 to trade at $1,176 per ounce, while oil continued to climb with WTI up $.55 to trade at $51.61 per barrel. Nat Gas was down $.052 to finish trading at $3.453.
It appears that the Trump rally has hit a bit of a wall, and that is not surprising given the speed and magnitude of the move. A “huge” rotation took place as losers became winners and winners lost some luster. Market participants will be focusing on the Fed meeting which is less than two weeks away, but a rate rise seems like a forgone conclusion for this meeting. December has been known as a good month for stocks, but that has not been the case the last couple of years. Let’s see what Santa has in store for us this year. We’ll check in with you next week.
Have a great weekend everyone.
