Labor market tightens
US nonfarm payrolls printed at only +210,000 in November, well below market expectations of +550,000, with previous months revised up by a further +82,000.
But there was a big drop in the unemployment rate, from 4.6 per cent to just 4.2 per cent, while the key measure of the underemployment rate fell sharply from 8.3 per cent to 7.8 per cent.
The Federal Reserve is now speaking more about accelerating its taper.
Indeed, with inflation at 6 per cent, and now unemployment at just 4.2 per cent, it's quite a marvel that the central bank is still creating $105 billion per month with asset purchases at all.
There are still concerns around virus variants and what-not, but the general narrative has taken a turn in a more hawkish direction.
It’s seemingly impossible to predict almost anything at the moment, but presumably over-valued stock markets may get a bit of a nudge on this news.
97-year old Charlie Munger commented in an interview that the current environment for stocks and cryptos is the most extreme he has ever experienced - even crazier than during the dotcom bubble.
But what would he know? :-)
