“The U.S. added 313,000 new jobs in February, the biggest gain in a year and a half and clear evidence that a strong economy has plenty of room to keep expanding,” Jeffry Bartash reports for MarketWatch. “The increase in hiring easily blew past the 222,000 forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. Job gains in January and December were also much stronger than initially reported.”
“Hourly pay rose 4 cents to $26.75 an hour, but the yearly increase in wages tapered off. The 12-month increase in pay slipped to 2.6% from a revised 2.8% in January,” Bartash reports. “Still, the strong report makes it a virtual lock the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates when senior officials meet this month.”
“The unemployment rate was unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1%,” Bartash reports. “Construction companies hired 61,000 people to mark the biggest increase in 11 years. Retailers added 50,000 jobs, as did professional-oriented businesses. And manufacturers filled 31,000 positions. The modest growth in wages in February is likely to tamp down, at least for awhile, Wall Street worries about rising pay leading to higher inflation.”
“Shares of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s components turned broadly higher in premarket trade Friday, after the release of better-than-expected jobs data,” Tomi Kilgore reports for MarketWatch. “Dow futures surged 159 points, after trading slightly lower ahead of the data.”
“The most active Dow stock was Apple Inc.’s which tacked on 0.6%,” Kilgore reports.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A stronger U.S. economy, especially regarding employment and disposable income gains, obviously bodes well for Apple and for everyone else. A rising tide lifts all boats!
SEE ALSO:
Dow and S&P 500 close higher on upbeat U.S. labor market data – February 22, 2018
U.S. sees strongest holiday sales since 2010 – January 12, 2018
Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rocket to new all-time records – January 11, 2018
S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise to records on first trading day of 2018 – January 2, 2018
U.S. employment jumps more than expected in November, boosts U.S. stocks – December 8, 2017
U.S. third-quarter GDP revised to three-year high of 3.3% – November 29, 2017
Goldman Sachs sees U.S. unemployment rate hitting lowest level since the late-1960s – November 20, 2017
American consumer confidence soars to highest level since December 2000 – October 31, 2017
U.S. jobless claims plunge to lowest level since 1973 – October 19, 2017
U.S. economy picks up steam; second-quarter GDP up 3.0% reflecting robust consumer spending and strong business investment – August 30, 2017
U.S. consumer confidence shows Americans upbeat on jobs, economy – July 25, 2017
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We will see how seaworthy the U.S. economy is over the next few years as interest rates rise and deficits soar because of increased borrowing (tax cuts), increased spending (both military and domestic programs), and increased debt service costs on $20+ trillion.
Consider the history of Reagan and Bush, who enacted similar tax cut-and-spend policies and you may foresee a major domestic economic collapse within 5 years or so.
Over the next five or six years, I plan to revisit your predictions. If you are not hypocrites, you will hold yourself to the same standard as you hold others when exposing their B.S.
What prediction? MDN did not make a prediction in their Take, so WTF did you “iCal,” genius?
Brutal Whatever: have you not paid attention to the constant MDN support for Trumpists, choosing to attack even conservatives who brought forth data showing how Trump’s reckless short term stimulus will cause Hooveresque long term costs?
You can bet MDN and its extreme xeno chicken hawk isolationist backwards thinking loons are preparing their “blame Obama for the 2019 crash” propaganda while they hold their 1929 Revival parties.
One does wonder how you can be an unpaid Apple propagandist while at the same time cheer for 25% tariffs, major human migration bureaucracy increases, unprecedented peacetime deficits, and a massive decline in trade-increasing diplomatic relations. If you hate your children so much, be sure to burn down your house when you die too. Why leave the next generation any economic future, right?
You certainly know a lot about “loons” …
Goeb: the personal insults only make you look weak and bitter.
Your bitter attack posts only make you look CLUELESS …
Oh no! The USA is adding jobs at record numbers! OH NO!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!
sincerely,
Trump haters
When a government applies massive stimulus (much of it through borrowed money and deficit spending), one would expect a positive economic response in the short term. We will see how this pans out in the long term. See the post below about deficit growth.
Your view of life and the economy is way too simplistic to be worth anything. Life is not a soundbite, and nature, physics, and mathematics does not give a crap about what you want or believe. Reality will assert itself despite humanity’s best efforts, and that includes economic reality. Enjoy the bubble while it lasts.
Says a Trump hater. Yes, we shall see …
Republicans used to at least give lip service to their ideals of fiscal conservatism and free trade, even as they routinely passes tax cut-and-spend legislation and budgets. Since the Reagan years of the 1980s, however, the Republican philosophy has changed, both radically and for the worse.
Since the Reagan years, the driving Republican philosophy has been tax cuts and trickle-down (or supply side) economics…give to the corporations and the rich and the dross that spills through their hands will benefit the people in “steerage” like manna from Mount Olympus. Render unto the wealthy and ye shall reap tenfold! Sacrifice now, for me, and you shall benefit in the next life. Economics has become like a religion for Republicans with the wealthy reaping now and promising to bless the rest of us…later. Tax cuts are perceived as the magic remedy for all ills, somehow generating more tax revenues even as they gather less. Yet, somehow, the deficits still rise and rise and rise, under both Democratic and Republican led POTUSes and Congresses.
Can you reconcile these contradictions? Refute the illogic? Justify the hypocrisy? I seriously doubt it, Fwhatever, because even you, your highness, cannot do the impossible.
Thanks Obama.
Soros just texted, your nickel is in the mail.
What does Trump and Stormy pay you for your services, clown vinnik?
More jobs is always a good thing but there are numbers beyond how many jobs are added in a given month. About half of that total is needed just to keep the unemployment level flat- this is commonly called the magic number- as people enter the work force.
The one that remains stubbornly low is the labor participation rate- reported in January at 62.7%. Our economy has still has an awful lot of non productive people relative to the population.
Finally, the unemployment rate can be deceiving to a casual observer. If someone does not regularly register for benefits or participate in job search programs they are dropped from the rolls of the unemployed. People who are still unemployed after benefits are exhausted do not commonly register as unemployed and this can make the numbers inaccurate.
These things are true regardless of who is in charge.
I’m waiting to see if this actually helps AAPL. For the past 10 years, the stock has tended to actually track gold better than the stock market. People move their money to AAPL when they are afraid of risks everywhere else. When the rest of tech is doing well, portfolio managers move away from AAPL.