Jump In U.S. Jobs Stymies Rate Cut Hopes
R.M. Schneiderman, 01.05.07, 10:50 AM ET
Despite an anemic housing market and a sluggish automotive sector, the U.S. economy closed out 2006 by adding more jobs than expected, limiting the chances that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon.
On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said businesses added 167,000 employees to their payrolls, far more than the 115,000 Wall Street was expecting. Some observers had predicted an even lower number in part because on Wednesday, Automatic Data Processing (nyse: ADP - news - people ) forecast a decline of 40,000 jobs (see "U.S. Jobs Could See Decline").
The better than expected results were largely concentrated in the service sector, with leisure and health care notching gains.
David Wyss, the chief economist at Standard & Poor's, said retail jobs weren't particularly strong considering the holiday season.
"We weren't at the stores very much," he said. "Apparently we were all out eating, drinking and getting sick afterwards."
Another reason for the spike in employment, he said, is that companies are increasingly outsourcing administrative and support services, leading to new jobs at specialist suppliers of these kinds of workers.
"That could mean anything from accountants to janitors," Wyss said.
For December, employment held at 4.5%, a low rate by historical standards.
Even better news for workers: Wages grew at a sizable rate of 0.5% in December, putting average hourly earnings at $17.04. One possible explanation is that a number of states, including Massachusetts and California, increased their minimum wages starting in January. Some employers, said Wyss, may have raised salaries ahead of the mandatory hikes to keep politicians from taking all the credit.
For the year, wages increased by a robust 4.2%. That's not something to be concerned about, said Wyss, but if hourly earnings continue to rise, the Fed may look to raise short-term interest rates, lifting its target on the overnight bank loans known as federal funds from the current 5.25%. For the time being, however, he still expects Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to maintain the federal funds rate at its current level, at least until June.
In the current environment, the central bank seems not to have much leeway to move rates in either direction. If Bernanke were to raise rates, that could accelerate the impact on the housing, automotive and manufacturing sectors. Yet if he cuts too soon, inflation could creep up to harmful levels.
In morning trading, bond prices fell sharply, as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped to 4.68% from 4.61% late Thursday.
The stock market didn't take kindly to the news, as many investors were hoping for an imminent rate cut. In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.64 points, or 0.01%, to 12,480.05, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq decreased by 13.04 points, or 0.53%, to 2,440.39. The broad-based S&P 500 inched down by 4.79 points, or 0.34%, to 1,413.55.
Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) slumped 7.8%, or $1.61, to $18.44, after issuing a profit warning linked to weak cellphone sales. Competitor Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) fell $1.01, or 4.8%, in early-morning trading, after Credit Suisse downgraded the wireless company to "neutral" from "outperform."
XM Satellite Radio (nasdaq: XMSR - news - people ) shares fell 24 cents, or $1.60, to $14.74, following news that the company missed its subscriber goals. Shares of Sirius Satellite Radio (nasdaq: SIRI - news - people ) also fell on the news, decreasing by 3 cents per share, or close to 1%, to $3.74.
Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) dropped 48 cents, or 1.8%, to $25.76, after J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded the computer maker to "underweight" from "neutral."
Exxon Mobil (nyse: XOM - news - people ) fell 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.37, after Lehman Brothers downgraded it to "equal-weight" from "overweight."
mfg J.B.
Tja, so ist das Leben, manche wissen es und viele nicht!!