Friends

This morning’s non-farm payroll number came in a bit lighter than expected with only 29,000 new jobs created in September. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% which actually was because a lot of new folks entered the labor market looking for jobs. Wage growth slipped to its lowest level in 5 years. The first reaction was a rally in the bond market (rates lower) and a rally in stocks. As the day wore on the rally in bonds dissipated but stocks were able to hold onto some gains. It’s fascinating that bonds could hold onto the bad news in good news early gains. The climb in interest rates appears to be unstoppable at the moment. Also surprising is that stocks don’t care.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 250 points to finish the day at 51,176. The S&P 500 was up 56 points to close at 7,722. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 319 points to close at 27,190. Gold was down $30 to trade at $4,172 per ounce, while oil was down $1.39 to trade at $91.48 per barrel WTI.

We’ll get inflation data in a couple of weeks and the beginning of earnings season. Today’s data should have produced a rally in bonds. It will be interesting to see if muted inflation data will do so. October should be an interesting month, indeed. Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim