A disappointing September U.S. jobs report released Friday badly missed expectations with nonfarm payrolls rising by just 194,000 in the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 500,000, according to the the Labor Department. On the news, Dow futures turned negative.
The U.S. economy created jobs at a much slower than expected pace in September, a pessimistic sign at a time of concerns over the path of the pandemic, stubbornly high inflation and dysfunction in Washington.
The report comes at a critical time for the economy, with recent data showing a mixed bag of solid consumer spending despite rising prices, growth in the manufacturing and services sector and surging housing costs.
Federal Reserve officials are watching the jobs numbers closely. The central bank recently has indicated it’s ready to start pulling back on some of the extraordinary help it has provided during the pandemic crisis, primarily because inflation has met and exceeded the Fed’s 2% goal.
However, officials have said they see the jobs market still well short of full employment, a prerequisite for interest rate hikes.
MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. jobs report looks like good news for Big Tech, all of which are rising in pre-market trading, including Apple, currently up 0.63% as investors are seeming to rotate back into the relative safety of Big Tech stocks.
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