A short Comment, I’m afraid. I’m a little under the weather and my brain is working in slow motion. My apologies!
This week we have two inflation readings to anticipate. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released on Wednesday, followed by the Producer Price Index (PPI) on Thursday.
But first, let’s talk about the July jobs report which came out on Friday. The U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 4.1%. A net positive 100,000 jobs were expected. Two prior months were also revised downward by a total of more than 100,000 jobs. Why did the unemployment rate fall? Over 260,000 workers left the labor force. Also of interest, the share of national income that goes to labor dropped to a new low this year.
Stocks are still at or near record highs – largely because the weak jobs report supports a Fed that sits on rates instead raising them. At the same time, it raises the specter of stagflation, where the economy slows (i.e. jobs) and inflation rises. Stay tuned.
The U.S. government department of the Treasury bought billions of dollars’ worth of Japanese yen, which has been sliding in value. Because we are nice? No! Because we don’t want the Japanese government to have to sell any of its holdings in U.S. Treasurys to boost the yen.
For the week ending on August 7th, the Standard & Poor’s 500 finished at 7,757, the Nasdaq Composite Index at 26.690, and the Dow Jones Industrials at 54,036. The yield on the ten-year Treasury Note closed at 4.660%. U.S. crude oil cost $78.18 per barrel, N.Y. gold cost $4.345.00 per ounce, and one Euro was worth $1.16.
Elizabeth E. Cook
Partner, Diastole Wealth Management
News and information presented here was gathered from sources believed, but not guaranteed, to be reliable, including (but not limited to) Yahoo Finance, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Morning Brew, Fortune, Axios, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and the New York Post. If you have questions, please call Diastole at 203.458.5220, or email me, Liz Cook, at ecook@dwinvest.com. Thanks for reading!
If you think that fine dining is perfect except that you have to wear clothes, then there’s a restaurant for you in Florida. C.L.A.S.S. Steakhouse Soiree in Hollywood now offers dining in the nude on the first Monday of every month. (The service staff remains clothed.) The cost, which includes a lavish meal plus champagne, costs $250 per man and $150 per woman. Please don’t make me explain why.