Jobs Report, December, 2022, Report -- January 6, 2023

BLS jobs report at 7:30 a.m. ET: just being reported now; BLS here; unemployment chart here;

• numbers:
• pace of wage growth slowed
• 223,000 new jobs created in December, 2022
• well ahead of the Street forecast of 200,000
• unemployment rate fell to 3.5% (from 3.7%? was revised to 3.6% in November, 2022)
  
• most CNBC panelists see these numbers as a great report
  
• market surges: hourly wages not as high as forecast
• wage growth: 0.3%
• pace of wage growth way down, from 5.5% to 4.1% suggests an inflation rate of 3.5 
• as noted, in a recessionary environment, I prefer looking at U-1, not U-3:
  

Squawk Box, panel:

• "about as perfect report as we could get!"
• goods: we could see deflation this year
• services: ? -- but this report, optimistic
  
• a strong report; wage growth well below inflation; not a good number if you are a blue-collar worker;
• Liesman: sounded optimistic despite his overall cautious attitude
  
• unemployment rate down to 3.5%
• long-term unemployed has come down
• tech people losing their jobs, not staying unemployed; finding jobs quickly
• catch-up from Covid for services workers
• beginning of a soft landing? everyone getting jobs but wage pressure less of an issue
• Rick Santelli: optimistic, as usual;
  

Dow:

• trending flat before the BLS numbers;
• now, up 260 300 points about 15 minutes after report released