The NFP US jobs report covering August was down too much below expectation. Most Affected domain was retail and leisure/hospitalitysectors.COVID fear is again keeping people home but also another cause is laborsupply issue because wages are up.· Payrolls grew just 235,000 in August &unemployment rate fell to 5.2%.· The leisure/hospitality sector had no net jobincrease and retail employment fell, yet businesses in those segments are stilltrying to hire. · Similarly, construction lost jobs because ofmaterials shortages and increased price in transports · Strong wage growth and rising participation are notrelevant since labor demand is lower.· The labor force participation rate was unchangedat 61.7DollarINDEX is DOWN, Stocks down and, Gold Up
Stocks open subdued across the board as August failed to follow up from July’s solid NFP report – note a recent uptick in the NDX. The below forecast range 250k US jobs added in August has hit risk sentiment, seeing stock futures reverse earlier strength (particularly Russell 2k), with a pause in jobs added in the Hospitality and Leisure sector suggestive of some Delta-induced reopening roadblocks, although one could argue that is “transitory” Stock Markets are all time high this week ignoring the danger of Tapering this Year. Monday markets are closed and we expect reactions on Tuesday.
