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Jobs Report Preview: Why A Goldilocks Report Matters For This Market

What’s in Today’s Report: Jobs Report Preview: Why A Goldilocks Report Matters For This Market.

The Economy: A Look Back and What’s Ahead

The ongoing government shutdown delayed several pieces of data last week, so weekly jobless claims and the Federal Open Market Committee minutes were the only two reports released…

An Update on Washington and the Economic Climate

The economic data last week implied the U.S. and global recoveries are still ongoing, but they’ve lost a little momentum from August. The most-watched numbers last week were the U.S. and international manufacturing and service sector PMIs. And across the board, they reflected continued expansion but a slight loss of momentum.

What Washington Dysfunction Means for the Market (It’s not all bad).

The House Saturday night passed a bill that funds the government through Dec. 15, but added a one-year delay on the individual mandate to the “Affordable Care Act” and removed a tax on medical devices. Like the earlier version, this bill is dead in the Senate, so at this point the chances of the federal government shutting down at midnight tonight have increased substantially.

Larry Summers Was a Casualty of Syria

The big news over the weekend was Larry Summers withdrawing his name from consideration for Fed Chairman. Summers withdrew after Democratic Senator Jon Testor from Montana signaled Friday he would not vote for Summers, making it virtually impossible for Summers to make it out of the Senate banking committee vote needed before full Senate confirmation, which basically killed any chance for nomination.

Is Larry Summers a Casualty of Syria?

One of the more interesting things I was reading yesterday had to do with the topic of Chairman Bernanke’s successor. Over the past two weeks, the market had largely become resigned to the fact that Larry Summers would become the next Fed chair, which was viewed as an incrementally “hawkish” event. Acceptance of that fact is something that I think helped push Treasury yields to their recent highs.

The Economy: A Look Back and What’s Ahead

In almost an exact repeat of the first week of August’s data, almost every economic report last week pointed to an economy gaining steam, except the monthly jobs report.