Weekly Outlook: Cracks Emerge In Jobs Market
U.S. equity markets snapped a three-week winning streak while benchmark interest rates dipped to seven-month lows after a critical slate of employment data revealed some cracking in the long-resilient labor markets.
Following its strongest weekly advance in five months, the S&P 500 finished fractionally lower this week, while the Mid-Cap 400 and Small-Cap 600 each posted steeper declines of over 2.5%.
Real estate equities were among the laggards this week despite continued downward pressure on longer-term benchmark interest rates. The Equity REIT Index slipped about 1%, but Mortgage REITs gained 0.4%.
The critical BLS nonfarm payrolls report showed that the U.S. economy added 236k jobs in March - slightly below expectations of 240k and marking the lowest monthly increase since December 2020.
The most relevant inflation-related metric in determining the path of Fed policy - Average Hourly Earnings - was also cooler-than-expected, rising at a 4.2% annual rate and averaging 3.6% over the past quarter.
U.S. equity markets snapped a three-week winning streak while benchmark interest rates dipped to seven-month lows after a critical slate of employment data revealed some cracking in the long-resilient labor markets. Just as volatility from the regional bank crisis began to subside - and as hopes of a "soft landing" were renewed - OPEC injected fresh uncertainty into financial markets this week with a surprise production cut, which sent oil prices sharply higher and revived some concerns of prolonged inflationary headwinds.
