Friends
Since the market was closed on Friday, I wanted to check in with you this morning, as stocks will begin the day decisively to the downside. The all-important jobs number was released on Friday and it was disappointing. Only 120,000 new jobs were created, but expectations had been for more than 200,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate did fall to 8.2%, but that is not what traders were focused on. This number could be an outlier, but it will take another 30 days for us to find out. In the meantime, earnings reports will begin to trickle in this week and the focus will be on corporate profits and future guidance.
The question will be, will this disappointing jobs number increase the possibility of further quantitative easing, thereby being a case where bad news is good news for stocks? You know where we stand. We want good news to be good news. No more punch needed in an already overflowing bowl.
We’ll see how the day plays out.
