SRVR - Jobs Data Dilemma
2024-06-09 09:00:00 ET
Summary
- U.S. equity markets posted mixed performance as investors parsed a perplexing slate of employment data, showing clear signs of cooling across essentially all metrics except for the "headline" payrolls print.
- The BLS reported that the U.S. economy added a robust 272k jobs in May, but prior months were revised substantially lower while the twin Household Survey showed a half-million job losses.
- The conflicting - and perhaps erroneous - employment data delayed the expected timeline for the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting cycle, while also raising the prospects of a data-driven policy error.
- The S&P 500 posted another series of record highs en-route to gains of 1.3% on the week. Consistent with the theme since the start of the Fed's rate hiking cycle, however, the large-cap benchmarks masked pain felt by smaller-cap and more rate-sensitive segments of the market.
- Excitement was muted at REITweek - the annual industry conference - after numerous "false starts" on the long-awaited Fed pivot, a dearth of IPO and M&A activity, and a two-year period of significant underperformance versus the broader market.
Real Estate Weekly Outlook
U.S. equity markets posted mixed performance while benchmark interest rates briefly dipped to two-month lows before retracing most the retreat late in the week as investors parsed a perplexing slate of employment data showing clear signs of cooling across essentially all metrics except for the "headline" payrolls print on Friday - the most consequential metric for policymakers - which both delayed the expected timeline for the Fed's rate-cutting cycle and raised the prospects of a policy error resulting from conflicting or erroneous data....
Jobs Data Dilemma