Unemployment fell to 6.7% from 7% today. Great news? Apparently not…
The new “unemployment rate” was coupled by a jobs report that fell very short of the economists expectations. The economy only added 74,000 jobs in December when economists were predicting 193,000.
So why the extreme contrast in data?
The unemployment rate is measured by the amount of working aged citizens actively searching for a job. After a certain length of unemployment, citizens are dropped from the unemployment measurement. This number does not account for the countless who have been unemployed for a long period of time or have given up on trying to find work.
The three major indices danced around the red and black throughout the day, finishing mixed to end the week.
The Dow Jones finished at 16,436.73 (+0.05%)
The S&P 500 finished at 1,842.37 (0.23%)
The Nasdaq finished at 4,174.67 (0.44%)
Stocks continue into 2014 with a theme of hesitation. It seems as though investors are happy with the 2013 bull market run, but cautious to see if it is sustainable for another year, especially as concern over the ending of Quantitative Easing grows.
