The S&P 500 has fallen sharply in recent days, as the dovish pivot has vanished.
An FOMC meeting and a slew of economic data will make September very volatile.
Rising rates and uncertainty could put the June lows in play.
Stocks are off to a turbulent start in September, as the Fed crushed all hopes of a dovish pivot at the Jackson Hole meeting last Friday. To make matters worse, September will hold several key economic data points and an FOMC meeting which could create even more volatility in a seasonally lousy time.
Today's job report appeared a bit weaker on the surface due to the rising unemployment rate. However, the jobs data showed that the pace of hiring in the economy is still strong, and wage growth remains elevated, despite rising slower than inflation.
The increase in unemployment was driven mainly by the number of workers not in the workforce dropping by 613,000 while the population growth increased by 172,000. This increased the civilian labor force by 786,000, with 442,000 finding work and 344,000 moving into the unemployed column. Unemployment didn't rise because people were losing jobs; unemployment increased because people were pulled into the labor force, perhaps because of solid wage growth, which increased by 5.2% year-over-year.
Comments