Friends
The markets couldn’t catch a break yesterday. Everything that could go wrong did, led by the disappointing news from Apple. Today, it was just the opposite. First, we got an eye popping non-farm payroll number with 312,000 new jobs created in December. In addition we saw upward revisions for previous months. The unemployment did tick up to 3.9%, but that’s because the participation rate increased nicely (more folks reentered the workforce looking for jobs). In addition, wages were up .4% for the month and 3.2% year over year. Yes, we continue to see wages improve.
Added to this monster jobs report were the extremely dovish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a Q and A session this morning. After several tries, it appears that the Fed Chair finally came up with the right set of words to placate the stock market. Basically, Mr. Powell indicated that the Fed could certainly change course if the conditions warrant it. That gave market participants comfort in feeling that the Fed is once again in their corner should economic conditions deteriorate.
All this led to a nice rally in stocks as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 746 points to close at 23,433. The S&P 500 was up 84 points to finish the day at 2,531. Gold was down $8 to trade at $1,286 per ounce, while oil was up $1.06 to trade at $48.15 per barrel WTI.
2019 is off to a rocking start in the stock market (not to mention the volatility in bonds). If moves of 2,3 or even 4% a day are indicative of what we have in store for us, well let’s just say it’s going to be an interesting year. Let’s catch our breath this weekend and get back at it on Monday.
Have a great weekend everyone.
