Stocks Jump on Better-Than-Predicted Jobs Data (Bloomberg)
Stocks rose, erasing a weekly loss for the S&P 500, after today’s employment growth topped economists’ predictions. “This report’s in the sweet spot,” Brian Jacobsen, who helps oversee $221.2 billion as chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said. “It shows investors that the economy is growing but not fast enough for them to be concerned that the Fed is going to start tapering its asset purchase program.”
Job Creation Continues, Unemployment up to 7.6% (CNBC)
Despite an anticipated summer slowdown, the economy continued to create jobs at a steady pace in May, adding 175,000 positions as the unemployment rate hit 7.6 percent. “The employment report does not look too bad after all, which should soothe recent concerns over a slowing for the US economy in response to domestic fiscal policy and external headwinds,” Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, said.
Dollar, Shares Edge Higher (Reuters)
The latest jobs data caused stocks to jump and shares to edge higher, suggesting the economic recovery is firm but not yet strong enough for the Fed to start cutting back its monetary stimulus. “It’s not a gang-busters, barn-burning, the economy-is-soaring kind of number, but it shows people re-entering the workforce,” said Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.
