The jobless claims report was reported on Thursday June 6th and the amount of claims came in higher than expected, causing a slight lull in index trading action. The expectation coming into this report was for 220,000 initial jobless claims while the actual number was reported at 229,000. Continuing claims also rose by 2,000 to 1.79 million.
This report is just one small piece of the puzzle that is the job market, a more anticipated report will arrive on Friday the 7th as the entire jobs report for the month of May will be unveiled. Angela Palumbo of Barron’s wrote, “Investors are keeping a close eye on jobs data as the Federal Reserve looks to see a cooling economy before it decides to cut interest rates. Data from Tuesday showed that job openings are at their lowest level in over three years, and on Wednesday ADP reported that private payrolls grew by 152,000 in May, down from a revised gain of 188,000 in April and below consensus estimates for the month. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report the employment situation for May, and economists expect the unemployment rate to stay at 3.9%.” We have been seeing a weakening labor market in recent months but this isn’t necessarily a totally bad thing. As Palumbo wrote, the Fed needs to see the economy cool in multiple areas before it can begin a rate cutting campaign. This is why the market is highly anticipating the job market report this Friday.
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