Good news prevails as we start the new year 🥳 Ryan Payne with Market Update #jobs #economy
Channel: Payne Capital
Date: 2023-01-07

This is Ryan Payne filling in for Bob for this week's Market Update. It was a wild week on the Street of Dreams as we continued the volatile ride that we saw last year into 2023. Stocks struggled for most of the week as questions over the extent of the Fed's interest rate policy loomed large over the economy and the stock market. But prices exploded on Friday after a stellar December employment report.

The Labor Department's final jobs report of 2022 showed us the US economy added 223,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, well above economists' estimates. It was a blowout. Data showed wage growth decelerated last month, suggesting that a soft landing is possible in 2023. A tight labor market here in America as people have jobs while wages are increasing at a slower pace, keeping inflationary pressure down. Meanwhile, job openings still stand at record highs, with over 1.8 unfilled jobs for every unemployed person. It's still at record territory.

The recent data contradicts a lot of Wall Street strategists, belief or viewpoint that we're headed for a recession in 2023. Perhaps the clearest action for investors was in the bond market this past week, where the yield on the 2-year Treasury dropped to 4.28% from 4.48% just before the release of the data on the US labor market. A further indication that interest rates will cool off this year, taking a tremendous amount of pressure off of US business activity. Hopefully, we won't see 7% mortgage rates again any time soon.

So good news prevails as we start the new year—a good omen as we push past last year's insane volatility and high uncertainty.


facebook.com/PayneCapitalManagement/
paynecm.com/
twitter.com/paynecmwealth
instagram.com/paynecapitalmgmt/