Good Evening. Following the stronger-than-expected July jobs report, bond rates shot up while stocks ended the day with a mixed bag of results.
The Nasdaq was the day’s largest underperformer among equity indices at the closing bell, declining 0.50%, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.16% and the Dow increased 0.23%.
US JOB REPORTS ARE IN!
In spite of predictions that job growth would slow down in July, the U.S. labor market remained incredibly hot.
The Labor Department issued its most recent monthly jobs data. The following important figures from the report were compared to Bloomberg’s estimations of economic indicators:
Non-farm payrolls: +528,000 vs +250,000
Unemployment rate: 3.5% vs 3.6%
Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: +0.5% vs +0.4%
Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: +5.2% vs +4.9%
However, The data caused markets to react unfavorably, reassuring investors that the U.S. central bank is likely to continue with its aggressive rate hike program.
Bank of America economists predict a rise of 50 basis points at the September and November meetings, followed by a rise of 25 basis points in December. The bank retains expectations for smaller-sized hikes moving ahead.
MONKEYPOX OUTBREAK
The US is experiencing the greatest monkeypox outbreak in the history of the disease, with at least 6,600 confirmed cases and a potential spread of undetermined scale. Monkeypox has been deemed a public health emergency by the Biden administration, the World Health Organization, and a few states as of yesterday.
The designation would free up funds for a war on the virus by accelerating the development of medicines and vaccines, and it will grant organizations like the CDC access to state statistics that should help keep case numbers current.
Monkeypox has gone almost unchecked across the nation since May 18 as a result of sluggish, inadequate testing and a critical shortage of immunizations.
- Despite originally having more than 20 million doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine in its national stockpile, the US only had 2,400 doses when the outbreak started.
- Additionally, authorities took weeks to order the delivery of the almost 400,000 doses that were being kept in Denmark, where the vaccine is made.
Looking forward… 800,000 extra doses of the vaccine will be distributed to other states and jurisdictions after FDA approval, according to US health officials.