This Really Was The Perfect Jobs Report For The Stock Market
But futures are nicely higher.
What gives?
Well, one of the big concerns that the market faces is this idea that the Fed might tighten prematurely.
But the unemployment rate is one of the primary datapoints the Fed uses to determine appropriate monetary policy, and unemployment ticked higher.
So we got a fine current number, great backward revisions, and no improvement in unemployment, putting no pressure on the Fed.
Just one note. There might be some thinking that this means we're in a bad-news-is-good-news market, and that the Fed is the only game in town. That's not quite it. If this had been a bad number, without those positive previous revisions, and then we rallied, that would be a signal that the market is just looking for Fed juice. But it was a good number. Not great, but a sign of an improving labor market, and we get the green light from the Fed, that's the key.
Stock market: rally mode.