Here Comes The Jobs Report ...
At 8:30 am ET, the BLS will release the December jobs report, the final reading on the US labor market for 2014. Here's a quick look at what Wall Street is expecting for the report:
- Nonfarm payrolls: +240,000
- Unemployment rate: 5.7%
- Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.2%
- Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +2.2%
- Average hours worked: 34.6
Ahead of the report, Brian Jones at Societe Generale had the most bullish forecast, expecting that payroll gains would exceed 300,000 just as they did in November.
And while the headline jobs number and unemployment rate are the major focus of the report, Steven Englander at Citi noted ahead of the report that the real strength will be found in the revisions to the October and November reports.
Markets were lower, but little changed, ahead of the report after US stocks posted huge gains on both Wednesday and Thursday, pushing the major indexes into positive territory for the year.
Keep it here, as we will have wall-to-wall coverage of the report LIVE when the numbers hit.