Jobs Report In Focus
It’s all eyes on the US today as we await the latest jobs data to see how the economy is faring at the end of the first quarter. This will be a biggie for the markets, so whatever plans you may have had – cancel them because you’re going to want to see this!
European and Asian markets were relatively subdued this morning as investors held their breath ahead of the big announcement. After February’s disappointing jobs report flooded the market with uncertainty, today’s announcement will be of the utmost importance as a metric of economic health for the US going forward.ย
Even on a global scale, the US has been a key driver of global growth in a time of uncertainty and dwindling investor confidence. However, today analysts are expecting a moderate return to form in the jobs market with an additional 180,000 jobs added, 3.8% unemployment and wage growth of 3.4% for the month of March.ย
This would be a vast improvement on last month’s 20,000 new jobs which caused severe distress in the markets and sent investors flooding into treasuries for safety. With a number of concerns creeping into US markets, a win today, in conjunction with the upbeat trade sentiment, could provide a strong catalyst for US and global markets.ย
On the flip side, another massive disappointment could rip the rug out from investors’ feet and undermine the integrity of the epic 2019 bull market. We’ll definitely be hoping for the former!