the us economy added 223000 jobs last month well above the expected 200000 target but the unemployment rate fell slightly to 35 november’s job growth was a revised 256000 notably the lower unemployment rate accompanied news that the labor force participation rate rose to 623 which is still a percentage point below prepandemic levels but wage growth could be the main point of discussion today as it came in below expectations that’s a potential sign that inflation could be weakening average hourly earnings gained 03 for the month and increased 46 from a year ago consensus was for respective growth of 04 and 5 on those numbers treasury yields fell slightly this morning while major stock index futures gained close to a percent just after the department of labor released its figures before the open the cboe volatility index® vix stood at 22 even more than 2 down from yesterday there also seems to be a bit of new optimism for a 25basispoint cut at the next at the next federal open market committee fomc rate announcement february 1 just after the employment announcement the cme fedwatch tool showed a 691 probability of a 25basispoint hike that’s up from a little over 62 a day ago but it had been as high as 728 the week before available jobs with good wages are great for households and usually for the economy too but blend high wages and plenty of openings with historic disruptions in supply chains and worker behavior and that spells a historic challenge for the fed perhaps the fed can switch from its firstresponder approach in 2022 to a more surgical one in 2023   the 10year treasury yield tnx moved down slightly to 372   the us dollar index dxy gained 015 to 10519   wti crude oil cl moved up 168 to 7491 per barrel yesterday’s strong hiring data put stocks on a steep downward swing but an unlikely rescuer helped buoy shares somewhat before the close st louis federal reserve bank’s james bullard known as one of the central bank’s most consistently hawkish members said in a presentation to st louis business leaders that rates haven’t been “sufficiently restrictive” yet in slowing the economy—but they’re “getting closer” according to bloomberg a chart in bullard’s presentation showing fed officials’ median projection for where rates will land in 2023—51—may be close enough in december the fed stepped down to a 50basispoint rate increase from a record four 75basispoint hikes in the previous months that brought the central bank’s target to a range of 425 to 45 bullard’s comments proved to be the sunniest of the day retiring kansas city fed president esther george told cnbc earlier today that she expects the federal funds rate to stay above 5 into 2024 if the fed is to beat us inflation which is still at 40year highs and atlanta fed president raphael bostic added thursday that the central bank still has “much work to do” to bring inflation under control southwest airlines luv was down 218 in premarket trading today after announcing it plans to report a fourth quarter loss because of december’s flight cancelation crisis southwest’s problems were frontandcenter during the chaotic holiday travel season and luv said its own disruptions cost it between 400 million and 425 million in lost revenue bed bath  beyond bbby plummeted nearly 30 by thursday’s close and was down another 1243 overnight after the struggling home goods retailer warned that it’s running out of cash and considering a bankruptcy filing the onetime meme stock said thursday it expects a net loss of 3858 million for the third quarter when it reports results scheduled for january 10 walgreens boots alliance wba gained 045 in friday’s premarket after losing 61 after announcing earnings yesterday the pharmacy giant reported betterthanexpected earnings but didn’t change its profit forecasts tesla tsla got even closer to 100 a share in today’s premarket trading—down another 632 to 10336 on thursday the electric vehicle maker lost another 290 to close at 11034 this week some investors managed to think of little else besides three things—jobs jobs and jobs more to the point the stubborn strength of us hiring remains great for workers but not so great for a federal reserve trying to vanquish the highest inflation levels since the 1980s on thursday reports ahead of today’s nonfarm payrolls data managed to significantly vanquish wednesday’s rally sending major markets down more than 1 to finish the session at its worst point the dow jones industrial average® dji was down nearly 400 points before closing with a nearly 340point deficit   the dji lost 33969 points or 102 to finish at 3293008   the nasdaq composite®comp fell 15352 points or 147 to 1030524   the russell 2000® rut retreated 1935 or 109 to 175319   the sp 500® index spx slid 4487 points or 116 to close at 380810 as mentioned 3800 looked like a support level for the spx on thursday among all market sectors energy 199 was the only gainer for the session with real estate –289 losing the most ground wti crude oil closed at 7393 thursday up 15 mild global temperature forecasts pushed natural gas down 949 in yesterday’s trading after a strong job openings and labor turnover survey jolts on wednesday came data that triggered thursday’s retreat in equities and early morning gains in bond yields and the us dollar see below the adp employment change report for december showed privatesector employment rose by 235000 jobs during the month the consensus was around 150000 the biggest employment growth was in leisure and hospitality adding 123000 positions while professional and business services grew 52000 education and health services came in third at 42000 weekly initial jobless claims tallied on december 31 admittedly the end of a holiday week were at their lowest levels since september initial claims came in below the 225000 consensus at 204000 for the week while continuing jobless claims for the week ending december 24 decreased 24000 to 1694 million turning to the consumer on monday the data focus goes from jobs to wallets as the federal reserve releases november consumer credit report it measures some of the most common debt americans have—credit card student loan and auto loan balances in october the numbers were somewhat eyepopping as borrowing increased by 27 billion during that month up 69 in november a separate report from the new york fed noted that third quarter 2022 credit card balances were up 15 the quickest growth in 20 years about those credit cards bankrate reported yesterday that by the end of 2023 the average credit card interest rate is expected to hit the highest level in 40 years 205 compared to 196 at the close of 2022 greg mcbride bankrate’s chief financial analyst indicated it could mean trouble for the average credit card customer if the economy—and the job market—begins to falter “in a weaker economic environment credit quality tends to suffer as people fall behind or default” mcbride told bloomberg be it ever so humble not many people buy homes around the holidays but the mortgage market still made news the mortgage bankers association reported wednesday that demand for mortgages has fallen to the lowest level since 1996 the average 30year fixedrate loan rate stood at 648 freddie mac reported yesterday up slightly from the previous week but down from late 2022 highs above 7 as homebuyers home sellers and sales agents anticipate the traditionally busy spring and summer selling month it might be worth remembering where the 30year rate was a year ago this week 322 jan 12 december consumer price index cpi and expected earnings from delta dal and taiwan semiconductor tsm jan 13 january university of michigan consumer sentiment and expected earnings from jp morgan jpm bank of america bac citigroup c and wells fargo wfc jan 17 january empire state manufacturing and expected earnings from goldman sachs gs and morgan stanley ms this post contains sponsored advertising content this content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice