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HomeUnemployment Report: April 2, 2010
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 2nd, 2010 8:56 AM |
The widely anticipated April Unemployment Report covering the month of March was just released. Let’s dive right in and take a look at the numbers . . .
I. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
December: 10%
January: 10%
February: 10.1%
March: 9.7%
– April Consensus Expectation: 9.7 %
– April Actual: 9.7%
>> LD’s comments: as expected. More people who had given up looking for work have now reentered the labor force. This trend will keep pressure on the rate. The U-6, that is the underemployment rate inched higher to 16.9% from last month’s 16.8%. What about the long term unemployed? (more…)
Dollar Carry Trade Remains in Vogue
Posted by Larry Doyle on December 4th, 2009 3:47 PM |
Today’s price action in the markets is very telling. What is it telling us? The dollar carry trade remains in vogue and technicals continue to dominate overall flows much more than fundamentals. Let’s navigate.
Recall that the weakness in the U.S. dollar has facilitated a large number of hedge funds, market speculators, and to a less extent investors to borrow dollars and buy a variety of risk based assets. What assets? Equities, a wide array of bonds, a basket of commodities, primarily gold. How are these sectors performing?
After an initial spike of 1-1.5% across the equity markets, these major market averages have retraced and are now effectively unchanged to slightly better on the day. Is that a sign of investors not believing in the details of the employment report? No, anything but. In fact, I believe the equity performance today is quite strong given the fact that the dollar has increased by 1.6%.
Bonds have traded in a very narrow range. Interest rates moved higher by approximately 12 basis points (.12%) and have sat there almost all day. The question that now comes back front and center is when the Fed will decide to raise rates. While most analysts had written off the possibility of an increase in rates prior to 2011, now analysts are projecting that the Fed may raise rates by mid-2010.
If rates do rise here, what does that do for our greenback? It will do better and it is doing just that today. As I referenced the U.S. Dollar Index has increased by 1.6%. (more…)
May Unemployment Report:
UPDATED as of 9:00AM >>
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 8th, 2009 7:17 AM |
Before this morning’s numbers were released, I published:
The widely anticipated May Unemployment Report covering the month of April is due out this morning at 8:30am (EST). Will this report show signs of improving trends in the pace of layoffs? Aside from the actual report, we need to pay strict attention to the revisions for prior months to assess the overall health of “our patient.” In regard to revisions and the actual report, a month ago I had written in my post April Unemployment Report:
Analysts hit the numbers, as they came in as expected. Wow! Are the analysts that good or are these numbers being “managed” or “massaged” so as not to overly upset the markets? Well, we did have a significant revision to January’s report. Let’s dig deeper!!
Call me paranoid, but when a January Non-Farm Payroll number is revised from a loss of 655k jobs to 741k and no revision is provided for February, I immediately ask why.
Previous month’s data and expectations for the May report are as follows:
**Note: I have now included the actual unemployment statistics (which were released at 8:30AM), along with my post-report commentary:
Unemployment Rate
March: 8.1%
April: 8.5%
Expectation for May: 8.9% (recall how this rate was the base case used for Bank Stress Tests…and here we are hitting it in May!!)
Actual for May: 8.9%
Post-report comment: as expected . . . however, the Underemployment Rate is now 15.8%. This rate consists of those unemployed and looking for work, unemployed and have given up looking, and part-time workers who would prefer full-time. To that end, I wonder how many temporary workers in the Census Bureau would prefer full-time work.
Non-Farm Payroll (click here for definition of this term)
March: loss of 651k
April : loss of 663k
Expectation for May: loss of 600k
Actual May report: loss of 539k
Revisions: February and March combined lost another 66k jobs
Post-report comment: on the face, the report appears better than expected but given the additional job losses in the revised numbers for February (an additional 18k jobs) and March (an additional 48k jobs) we are still in the 600k average job loss for the month. Private sector lost 611k jobs while government added 72k jobs with a lot of those people being temporary workers employed by the Census Bureau. The fact that temporary government workers are factored into overall employment, in my opinion, is stretching the integrity of the report. Health care added 17k jobs, manufacturing lost 149k jobs, construction lost 110k jobs, financial services lost 40k jobs.
As I referenced above, I will be looking for a February revision as well.
Average Hourly Earnings
March: +.2
April : +.2
Expectation for May: +.2
Actual May report: +.1
Post-report comment: businesses are doing everything to manage costs. This number is lower than expected and will not help consumer spending and retail sales going forward. With no wage pressures, this component of inflation will remain in check
Average Hourly Workweek
March : 33.3 hours
April: 33.2 hours
Expectation for May: 33.2 hours
Actual May report: 33.2 hours
Post-report comment: as expected…
Please check back shortly after 8:30am to review the numbers and market reaction!! In pre-market trading, stock futures indicate the market would open higher by approximately 1%. The 10yr U.S. Treasury is quoted at 3.35%.
Post-report comment: the bond market has rallied marginally as the overall report continues to show weakness throughout the private sector. The equity market is a touch lower. Analysts are spinning the report as a slowing in the pace of declines. Does this report portend an improved tone in spending, economic activity, and lessened defaults and foreclosures? Not in a hurry.
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LD
