Non-Farm Payrolls “Better” than Expected!
By Mike Conlon | September 4, 2009
Well I’m not certain this is “great” news but the US “only” lost 216K jobs, better than the analysts expectation of 225K. The unemployment rate has risen to 9.7%, a 26-year high. So far this AM, the equity markets are positive as of this writing as the number of job losses each month is decreasing more slowly, a possible sign that the economy is recovering.
More importantly, it means that the flight to safety trade is off and the risk appetite trade is on this morning. The commodity currencies (AUD, NZD, and CAD) seem to be doing well against the Japanese Yen (JPY) and US dollar (USD), with CAD/JPY as the mornings largest gainer (+1.14%).
This could be good news for equity bulls and dollar bears, as the lack of a significant deviation from the expected means that investors and traders feel that the economy may be recovering and we could be headed for inflation down the road, which is clearly the Fed’s intention.
Check back later to see how these trades are doing!
Tags: AUD, cad, commodity, currenc, currencies, dollar, dow, economy, fed, invest, investor, Japan, job losses, jpy, market, news, nzd, rate, ssi, trade, trader, trades, unemployment, USD, Yen
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | 1 Comment »
Markets become “weighed down” after today’s Employment report!
By Sean Hyman | July 2, 2009
Unemployment in the U.S. now stands at 9.5%. Job losses came in at -467,000 vs. -360k expected. Oil slumped to $67 down recently from $70-$73. The Dow is down 160 points. Most all foreign currencies that I see are down on the day as the defensive plays of the dollar and yen both thrive upon the dour NFP report. So any bright spots out there? Yes, the revision on last month’s NFP came in better than expected by a small margin. Also, the ECB kept rates unchanged rather than lowering rates in the Euro Zone. So those are basically the only two “rays of light” out there this morning so far.
Tags: currenc, currencies, dollar, dow, ECB, EUR, Euro, forex, FXEDU, Hyman, job losses, lower, mywealth, nfp, oil, rate, Sean, Sean Hyman, spot, U.S., unemployment, Yen
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | No Comments »
Text from the FOMC Meeting!
By Sean Hyman | June 24, 2009
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic contraction is slowing. Conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months. Household spending has shown further signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Businesses are cutting back on fixed investment and staffing but appear to be making progress in bringing inventory stocks into better alignment with sales. Although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the Committee continues to anticipate that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and market forces will contribute to a gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth in a context of price stability.
The prices of energy and other commodities have risen of late. However, substantial resource slack is likely to dampen cost pressures, and the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time.
In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability. The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period. As previously announced, to provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve will purchase a total of up to $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt by the end of the year. In addition, the Federal Reserve will buy up to $300 billion of Treasury securities by autumn. The Committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets. The Federal Reserve is monitoring the size and composition of its balance sheet and will make adjustments to its credit and liquidity programs as warranted.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Donald L. Kohn; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Daniel K. Tarullo; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.
Tags: Bernanke, blog, commodities, currency, economic, fed, Federal Reserve, financial, forex, housing market, Hyman, invest, job losses, lower, rate, sales, Sean, Sean Hyman, stock, stocks, time, Treasury, wealth
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | No Comments »
Non-Farm Payrolls came out!
By Sean Hyman | April 3, 2009
Estimate was for a loss of 660,000 jobs and for unemployment to come in at 8.5%. Came in -663k, 8.5% …so basically inline. GBP/USD and EUR/USD moving up on the news….however, still NZD/JPY and NZD/USD up the most % wise on the day, thus far.
Sean Hyman
Tags: dollar, EUR, EUR-USD, euro, gbp, GBP-USD, job losses, jpy, NFP, nzd, Sean Hyman, unemployment, USD
Topics: What To Look At In The Market | No Comments »