Published Every Monday Since 2007   | Volume 862 | June 5, 2023

YTD so far these many weeks markets were up (Bull picture shown), down (Bear picture), or draw (Bull/Bear picture) …
Bulls (Markets UP) =14…
Bears (DOWN) = 08… and Draw = 0

The debt ceiling issue gets resolved – markets shoot up on Friday, and up for the week

• The DOW was up +659 points or +2.0%, the S&P 500 was up +56 points or +0.4%, and the Nasdaq was up +132 points or +1.0% for the week ending June 2nd. This was a 4-day week due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.  Oil was down -$1.3 or -1.8% to $71.87 per barrel. 
• On late Wednesday the House on a bipartisan basis passed the debt ceiling legislation which sailed through the Senate for the President to sign.  Investors welcomed the news that a major disaster of the US defaulting on its debt payment was averted. 
• On Friday the May job report beating all expectations positively surprised many which also boosted the investors morale that the economy is doing well despite the Feds raising interest rates to control the high inflation. The May job report is below – 
  

Better than expected May job report surprises many

The U.S. Labor Department reported that in May +339,000 jobs were added.  This was the 29th straight monthly gain!  So far, the US has created less than 1.6 million jobs in 2023.  The US added 4.5 million jobs in 2022.

Unemployment rate jumped in May to 3.7% (April was 3.4%, March was 3.5%, Feb was 3.6%), but still very low by many standards. 

Hourly wages slowed slightly to 4.3% annually (was +4.4% in April, +4.2% in March, +4.6% in Feb, +4.4% Jan; +4.6% in Dec; +5.1% in Nov).  The wages are coming down slowly, however, it remains a major concern for the Feds for reducing the still high inflation. 

The labor participation remained flat at 62.6% (Was 62.6 in April and March, 62.5% in Feb, 62.4% in Jan; 62.3% in Dec and 62.1% in Nov).  It is still below the pandemic level of 63.4%. 

Source – NY Times

• In 2022 the US economy added 4.5 million jobs.  In 2021 the U.S. economy added 6.4 million jobs. 2020 was a massive job loss year.  Pandemic related job loss was 22 million. In comparison to 2019 where the US added +2.1 million, 2018 added +2.7 million, and 2017 added +2.06 million jobs.
• The labor participation rate is 62.6%. Pre-covid this number was 63.4%. The participation is a percentage of 16-64 years olds that are working or seeking employment.  Non-working Americans include the retired, stay home with kids, disabled, Seniors, College students AND those trying to find a job but have given up.
• Typically 300,000 new jobs a month are needed to drop the unemployment rate, and 150,000 jobs to just keep up with the population growth.

Sources: Multiple, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Yahoo, Google, NY Times, BLS, US Government, CIA handbook,…Select other sources

**********************************************************

How to be financially strong? Start early, and now!

We are starting this section as a running blog to educate you about key and simple things one can do now to become financially stable, and over time become a millionaire! 

These are easy things to learn, such as, managing your costs, saving money, long term investment with power of compounding, and many more topics.  Idea is that by educating yourself about these topics can give you a head start to shape your future – our motto – Today Shapes Tomorrow! 

  Click here

• 2023 the DOW is +1.9%, S&P500 is +11.5% and the NASDAQ is +26.5%
• 2022 the DOW was -8.8%, S&P500 was -19.4% and the NASDAQ was -33.1%
• 2021 the DOW was up +18.7%, S&P500 +26.9% and the NASDAQ +21.4%
• In 2020 the DOW was up +7.2%, S&P500  UP+16.3% and the NASDAQ UP +43.6%
• In 2019 the DOW was up +22.3%, S&P500 up +28.9% and the NASDAQ up +35.2%
• In 2018 the DOW was down -6.7%,  S&P500 down -7.0% and NASDAQ down -4.6%.
• In 2017 the DOW was up 25.1%, S&P500 up 19.4% and the NASDAQ up 28.2%

Copyright © 2007 – 2021 BusinessNewsForKids.com