Friends

Early on we had some bad news is good news with the release of June’s non-farm payroll number. 57,000 new jobs were created in June vs. the expected 113,000. In addition, last months big beat was revised down more than 40,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remains at 4.2%. The tame jobs number helped take some of the steam out of the narrative that the Fed will be raising rates in the second half of the year. Inflation plus an overheated jobs market would be the recipe for higher rates. But with oil prices backing off and the employment picture more moderate, rate hikes any time soon would be a surprise to me.

As for today, we saw the Dow do well while Nasdaq suffered. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 594 points to finish the day at 52,900. The S&P 500 was up a fraction to close at 7,483. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 207 points to close at 25,832. Gold was up $45 to trade at $4,127 per ounce, while oil was down $.11 to trade at $68.47 per barrel WTI.

Have a wonderful 4^th of July weekend everyone and stay safe. We’ll be back with you on Monday.

Happy 4^th of July everyone. Enjoy!

Jim