Three Important Points About Today's Jobs Report
There are three things you should think about.
1) The Non-Farm Payrolls report was solid. This suggests that the economy was a bit stronger than we thought.
2) But the unemployment rate ticked up, which markets will like, since that gives the Fed some slack.
3) But there was a big gain in average hourly earnings (+0.4%), the strongest in a long time. This is a sign of a tightening labor force, which is something markets have been talking about lately, that the market is tighter than people realize.
Bottom line: A solid, goldilocks report that the market will like. But the average hourly earnings is a big story.