NFP up +120,000, unemployment rate 8.6%, hourly earnings down

By Edward Harrison On Dec 2, 2011

With prior revisions of +72,000, this number is effectively a +192,000 non-farm payroll number. The video below gives you a bit more flavor but the headline numbers are bullish and markets are rallying on the back of them. Underneath, what we see is a lower labor participation rate, which is bad. And, remember a +200K number is not off the wall bullish, it is just treading water.

Bottom line: the numbers are decent but they beat expectations. Markets are in a bullish end of year tape painting frame of mind, so stocks will rally. Daddy needs a bonus so Santa is indeed coming to town. The Santa Claus rally is on. If the Europeans get it together, expect even more bullishness.

Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

Dollar Soft ahead of US Payrolls

News Links: Draghi – If fiscal policy becomes hawkish, monetary policy will be dovish

1 Comment

Anonymous says 13 years ago

While unemployment is down the participation rate and wage rates are down which are more important long term. I would still be concerned about the U6 figure.
Anonymous says 13 years ago

While unemployment is down the participation rate and wage rates are down which are more important long term. I would still be concerned about the U6 figure.

Comments are closed.