(As of 7:10 am PST)
It’s quite a surprising start for Wall Street this
morning. Investors were greeted at their
desks this morning by an unexpectedly low jobs number that caught markets off
guard. According to the Labor Dept.,
just 74,000 jobs were added to the private sector in December. It was the smallest increase in over 3 years
and well below the 193,000 increase forecasters were expecting. The unemployment rate plunged unexpectedly as
well from 7.0% to 6.7%, due in large part to nearly 347,000 Americans dropping
out of the labor force. The stock market
initially reacted in its recent “bad news is good news” fashion before stalling
out and reversing course. Despite the
surprisingly low figure, one month worth of data is not likely to dissuade the
Federal Reserve from its taper plans which will begin this month. Gold is up 1% on the negative jobs report and
interest rates dropped sharply with the 10 yr. treasury falling from 2.97% to
2.88%. In other news, earnings season is
“officially” underway as Alcoa reported an earnings miss after the bell
yesterday. The market is struggling to
find direction with this jobs number, as sentiment has turned negative for the
time being. As we get this jobs number
behind us, expect a return to fundamentals with earnings season driving market
action for the next several weeks.
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