10 days ago • Posted by Paul de La Baume
#Jobs report is a minor win for #stocks. #trading $QQQ $SPY
The strong jobs report is expected to keep pressure on the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. However, it alleviates the worst fears of a boiling hot jobs report as we had last month, which saw the market rapidly re-pricing higher interest rates for longer. We also note that inflation in terms of average hourly earnings is decelerating, an encouraging sign that labour tighteness is easing. Today’s February US Jobs report should be a win for equity investors given it is not as strong as some had feared, and sentiment is very negative. Also, the participation rate ticked higher to 62.5%, above Street forecast of 62.4%. In aggregate, there are enough offsets that make the report positive. If we add in the bank stress with SVB, it’s also a factor that should maintain the Fed to go for 25bps rate hike on 22nd of March.
