Jobs Report
- InfraCap Management
- 3 minutes ago
- 1 min read
The employment survey showed ongoing weakness in the job market with only 50k jobs created vs. expectations of 70k. The net two-month revision was also negative with a revision down of 76k. The household survey, however, showed that the unemployment rate declined to 4.4% from 4.6% last month.
The most important number was the unemployment rate which is the key factor the Fed focuses on. Consequently, rates moved up slightly and Fed Funds futures priced in less Fed easing at the margin. The stock market also had a muted response due to the conflicting data.
We continue to believe that employment will be relatively weak due to the recession in the housing and construction sectors. We do believe that Fed rate cuts will cause long term rates to drop which will cause an improvement in the interest sensitive housing and construction areas. We believe the rate cuts will be driven by declining inflation, not a rapid deterioration in the labor market. Inflation will decline as the lagged shelter component finally starts to reflect the decline in market rents. We forecast 3 Fed rate cuts in 2026 which will support out S&P 500 Index target of 8,000.






