More On The Jobs Report -- July 5, 2019

Updates

More: link here.

July 6, 2019: link here --

From the linked article:

Sectors with the most notable job gains in June included the professional and business services, health care and transportation and warehousing sectors. Manufacturing employment surged in June, with 17,000 positions created. Economists were predicting 3,000 jobs added in the sector. [Until I read this, I had been led to believe that manufacturing was dead in the US based on mainstream media reports.]

Having said that, the analysts found much, much, much about which to be concerned. And so it goes.

The narrative at the linked article did not seem to fit the data. Two observations:

• it almost seems the article itself was written before the data came out; analysts anticipating a much worse report; 
• it almost seems that the analysts couldn't believe this was happening; once the numbers came out, they seemed to be trying to reassure their clients that they were correct; that this was an anomaly, and "recession is right around the corner" if the Fed does not cut rates

Apparently investors were seeing something else. The market hit all-time highs this past week; the S&P 500 hit record highs three consecutive days this past week. Those folks that followed the Wall Street adage to "sell in May and go away (for the summer)" seemed to have missed a huge advance.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. I am inappropriately bullish on America and inappropriately bullish on the Bakken. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

Later, 11:50 a.m. CT: after the jobs report came out today, here are the headlines (not linked):

• Drudge Report: Stocks spooked.
• DOW: down 58 points (or 0.2%; if you have a million-dollar portfolio, you are taking a bath to the tune of ... $2,000) 
• Yahoo Finance! -- the Fed just got the green light to cut rates
• The Street: Alphabet charts show potential breakout or "death cross" (okay, that will help)
• Barron's: the stock market has been on a tear. History says it's time to get greedy 
• Reuters: global markets; collapsing bond yields push world stocks to new highs (we've talked about this often)
• Quartz: the inclusive language that sets the oil industry's lone female CEO apart from the rest
• Quartz: Vicki Hollub is showing Big Oil how to survive climate change

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More

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

I had not looked at the stock market for the past several months due to the volatility caused by the media anxiety over the US-China trade issue. But with the US equity market breaking all-time highs this past week, I decided to take a look. Wow! Pretty impressive.

Again, this is only for the archives; this is not an investment site and I am making no recommendations.

Investor Place, three oil stocks to buy, whatever oil prices do:

• Plains GP Holdings 
• Magellan Midstream Partners 
• Enterprise Product Partners LP 
• 52-week range: 23 - 30 
• recent: 29 div: 6% 
•  P/E: 14

Original Post

 
From CNBC earlier today:

The report “would seem to make a mockery of market expectations” for a quarter- or half-point cut at the July 30-31 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, said Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. The level of job growth, he added, “is still much stronger than the levels that have usually prompted the Fed to cut rates in the past and, although we do still expect the weakening economy to prompt the Fed to loosen policy, the first rate cut will probably be delayed until September.”

Market reaction shifted abruptly following the Bureau of Labor Statistics release. Traders moved the possibility of a 50-basis point cut to 8% from nearly 30% though 100% expectations for a quarter-point cut remained firmly in place.

See this post also.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

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Times Change

Nike could have put out several "flag" versions for its new "patriotic" tennis shoe and called it the "Obama Series." Huge marketing opportunity missed.