STOCKS GO NOWHERE AFTER UGLY JOBS REPORT: Here's What You Need To Know

REUTERS/Frank PolichVolatility spiked in the market, but it wasn't due to the hotly anticipated jobs report. Stocks surged, then tanked, then erased those losses to basically break even.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 14,964.0, +26.5, +0.1%
• S&P 500: 1,659.6, +4.7, +0.2%
• NASDAQ: 3,667.6, +8.8, +0.2%

And now, the top stories:

• The U.S. added just 169,000 jobs in August, which was less than the 180,000 expected by economists. To make matters worse, the July number was revised down to 104,000 from an earlier estimate of 162,000. Meanwhile, more Americans dropped out of the workforce, causing the labor force participation rate to fall to 63.2%, the lowest level since 1978. This helped cause the unemployment rate to fall to 7.3%.
• After the report hit, stocks and gold rallied, while bonds fell. Some market watchers speculated that the weak jobs report reduced the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would begin to taper its monthly purchases of $85 billion worth of Treasury and mortgage bonds.
• But economists quickly responded, reiterating their calls for the taper to begin in September. There rationale: the jobs report may have been disappointing, but it wasn't a disaster.
• "Will we help Syria?" Putin asked rhetorically during the G20 summit. "Yes, we will. We're doing it right now, we're supplying arms." These words shook the markets, causing the Dow to fall by more than 120 points.
• Oil surged today. The price of the October crude oil futures contract settled at $110.53 per barrel, the highest level since May 2011.
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