Tag: wage growth

Disappointing Jobs Report – Bye Bye July Rate-Hike

Last Thursday (July 2, 2015), non-farm payrolls report for June for disappointing. 223,000 jobs were added in June, vs expectations of 231,000, compared with an average monthly gain of 250,000 over the last 12 months. Although payrolls grew slightly, the unemployment rate ticked lower to 5.3% from 5.5%. While this may sound to be a good thing, it is not.

Unemployment rate fell due largely to a sharp decline in labor force participation, which fell by 0.3% point to 62.6%, the lowest level since October 1977. Decline in labor force participation shows more people were discouraged by the poor employment prospects that he/she is not actively seeking employments. Therefore, they are not reflected in the unemployment rate. Bottom line: they lost confidence in the jobs markets.

Revisions to the previous months’ job totals has been negative. April fell from 221,000 to 187,000 (-34,000) and May fell from 280,000 to 254,000 (-26,000), bringing losses of 60,000.

Total Non-Farm Payrolls – Monthly Net Change – 2014-Present
Total Non-Farm Payrolls – Monthly Net Change – 2014-Present

Job gains/loss:

Professional/Business services: +64,000. I believe it was largely due to college students who recently graduated or got a job while in school.

Health care: +40,000. ObamaCare continues to boost earnings for health care industry. Recently, health care stocks have been hitting all-time highs.

Retail: +33,000. Well it is summer, isn’t? It’s no wonder more jobs were added in retail.

Restaurants/Bars/etc: +30,000. One word, Summer.

Mining: -4,000. Oil decline has been hitting energy industry hard. Total decline in the industry now stands at 70,000.

While employment numbers are important to the Fed to justify the time to begin normalizing policy, I believe wage growth and Consumer Price Index (CPI) are more important. July rate-hike is off the table largely because wages remained flat. Average hourly earnings in the private sector stood at $24.95, unchanged from May and up 2% from a year earlier.

Average Hourly Earnings - 2014 to Present
Average Hourly Earnings – 2014 to Present

On July 17, CPI report for June will be released at 8:30 AM EST. It will be very important to watch for it. Any spending reports such as Retail Sales will also be important to watch out for because consumer spending makes up 70% of all economic activity. Retail sales account for one-third of it.

I strongly believe September rate liftoff is possible. If future CPI, average hourly earnings, and employment fall in any way, chance of liftoff in September will be reduced.

Following the release of the report on Thursday, US markets were mixed while US Dollar was down. US markers were closed due to 4th of July holiday. The United States is 239 years old.

Standard & Poor 500 ( “SPX” on ThinkorSwim platform) – Hourly
Standard & Poor 500 ( “SPX” on ThinkorSwim platform) – Hourly
US Dollar ( “/DX” on ThinkorSwim platform) – Hourly
US Dollar ( “/DX” on ThinkorSwim platform) – Hourly

 

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No Clear Direction Signs For US Economy…….Yet

Last Friday (May 8, 2015), non-farm payrolls report was released and it was in-line with expectations. 223,000 new jobs were added in April, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 5.4%, the lowest level since May 2008. While, this is a good news. March gains was revised down to 85,000 from the prior estimate of 126,000 (-41,000), lowest since 2012. I believe the April number (223,000) will also be revised lower.

Wage growth remained modest. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.2%. As unemployment rate falls, wages should start to pick up speed, which also will push up inflation.

Fed officials are closely watching the labor market and other key economic reports, as they are in a tough spot on raising short-term rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008.

There is a very little chance of rate hike in June. I believe the Fed won’t hike the interest rates, unless over 350,000 jobs are added in May and unemployment rate goes down by 0.2% to 5.2% (which certainly will not happen).

First quarter was very weak due to; strong U.S. dollar, low energy prices, West Coast port strike, and the bad weather. When these four are combined together, it creates a heavy roof to push down economic growth.

Hiring has been strong in many industries, except energy. About 15,000 energy jobs were lost in April, worst month since May 2009. Lower oil prices increased the pressure on the energy sector. Low energy prices has caused energy companies to lose profits. As a result, they had to cut jobs. Recently, crude oil inventories supply were declining, which caused oil prices to rise above $60.

Last Tuesday (May 5, 2015), trade balance report was released and it exploded. The US trade deficit widened by 43.1% to a seasonally adjusted $51.4 billion in March, largest monthly expansion in the trade gap since December 1996 and the largest deficit reading since October 2008. Trade balance is when you subtract imports from exports. In other words, it’s the difference between imports and exports.

Trade Balance for the past two years
Trade Balance for the past two years

A biggest reason for the weakness was the 9-month slowdown at West Coast port due to a labor contract dispute. West Coast ports is back in business. Imports arriving though the West Coast port surged. Imports increased 7.7% in March, the largest increase on record. While exports only increased 0.9% in March, reflecting strong dollar impact. In the past 12 months, the dollar has jumped almost 10%. Strong dollar had made Americans goods and services less competitive in global markets. Bigger imports and smaller exports mean a bigger deficit.

I believe it’s not to worry about in a long term. Once the backlog is cleared, imports will drop and the trade deficit will also drop.

Recently, the dollar has fallen sharply because of weak US economic reports, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

On April 29, 2015 (Wednesday), GDP Advance estimate increased at an annual rate of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2015, down from 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014 (-2.0%). This is a huge difference. Economists were anticipating growth of 1% in the first quarter.

Real GDP for the past three years
Real GDP for the past three years

Again, the weakness was due to U.S. dollar, low energy prices, West Coast port strike, and the bad weather. West Coast port strike disrupted the flow of trade, increasing imports which negatively impact GDP. In the past 12 months, the dollar has jumped almost 10%.

According to the report, Real exports of goods and services decreased 7.2% in the first quarter, from an increase of 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Real Imports of goods and services increased 1.8%, from an increase of 10.4% in the fourth quarter.

I’m afraid that Q1 GDP will be revised to negative number. Second estimate (Preliminary) of Q1 GDP will be released on Friday, May 29, 2015.

First quarter GDP was disappointing. I believe the economy should bounce back in the 3 quarters of 2015.

US markets were very happy with the jobs report, but not with other economic reports. The Dow soared more than 250 points, or 1.5% on Friday. While USD bracket currencies were mixed.

Check out the charts below; Dow Jones and US Dollar. US Dollar has fallen signification after hitting of $100.27 on mid-April. Dow Jones has been in a range. Dow Jones chart includes something “extra”, that’s not included in the post here.

US Dollar Index - Four Hourly Chart
US Dollar Index – Four Hourly Chart

 

Dow Jones ($DJI) - Hourly Chart
Dow Jones ($DJI) – Hourly Chart

 

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