The ever-reliable BLS reports this morning that the U.S. economy created 143,000 jobs in January, less than estimated (160,000), but still solid, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.0%. The number was lower than last January's 166,000, but the numbers under Biden are hardly believable. November was revised up by 49,000, from +212,000 to +261,000, and the change for December was revised up by 51,000, from +256,000 to +307,000. With these revisions, employment in November and December combined is 100,000 higher than previously reported. (My, oh, my, what accuracy! Only 23% and 20% off, respectively.)
This report isn't exactly what Wall Street wanted. The cumulative desire among the speculating class is for cratering employment figures, so that the Federal Reserve will have cause to lower the federal funds rate, making it less expensive for corporate execs to borrow money to repurchase shares of their companies. That's how money is made these days, other than, well, getting $7 million in subscriptions from the government, like Politico.
Whether any of these numbers matter much is a good question, given that there are likely to be thousands and thousands of government employees hitting the bricks in months ahead.
Moving on, the other headline this morning is Amazon earnings, which came in above estimates, though growth in AI-related services wasn't as expected, so it's trending lower Friday morning by about three percent.
Thus far, the week has gone well. Through Thursday's close, the Dow is ahead by 203 points, the NASDAQ is up 164, and the S&P shows a gain of 22 points.
Stock futures bounced around a bit after the jobs report release, but other than Dow futures up 35 points with a half hour to the opening bell, the NASDAQ and S&P futures are flat. Gold and silver are bid, slightly. WTI crude oil is at $71.02.
There is some kind of big football game this Sunday. The NFL prohibits commercial use of the term "Super Bowl", so you didn't see that. Maybe call it the NFL Championship? In any case, Fearless Rick has thoughts, theories, Taylor Swift, and picks over at IdleGuy.com Sports.
Enjoy the show, the game, the weirdness all around. Take Monday off. The day after big football games should be national holidays. Maybe Elon Musk can have Presidents' Day moved up a week or so in the name of efficiency, or, make every Monday from September through March (lest we forget March Madness) a mandatory day off without pay. Most federal employees take Mondays off anyhow.
Have a Happy!
At the Close, Thursday, February 6, 2025:
Dow: 44,747.63, -125.65 (-0.28%)
NASDAQ: 19,791.99, +99.66 (+0.51%)
S&P 500: 6,083.57, +22.09 (+0.36%)
NYSE Composite: 20,157.58, +28.69 (+0.14%)
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