August 2, 2024, PJ Media, (Updated) August 5, 2024. The July 2024 jobs report is out, and it is bad news for the Harris-Biden administration. The report shows that job growth in the United States fell way, way, way short of expectations, the unemployment rate went way up, in a day reminiscent of Black Monday in September 2008, the stock market tanked (down more than 600 points on August 2nd, and 1000 points on August 5th), the Fed is not going to lower interest rates, consumer confidence is cratering, a recession has been triggered. On August 4th Nikkei, the Japanese stock market tanked.
"The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 4.3 percent in July, and the number of unemployed people increased by 352,000 to 7.2 million. These measures are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.5 percent, and the number of unemployed people was 5.9 million," reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since October 2021.
Unemployment rates increased for adult men and whites, reaching 4.0% and 3.8%, respectively, while rates for other major worker groups, including adult women, teenagers, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, remained largely unchanged. Temporary layoffs surged by 249,000, hitting 1.1 million, though permanent job losses held steady at 1.7 million. Long-term unemployment stayed at 1.5 million, up from 1.2 million last year, accounting for 21.6% of the jobless.
July saw a meager addition of 114,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, falling drastically short of the 215,000 monthly average over the last year. Key sectors like health care, construction, transportation, and warehousing managed modest gains, but the information sector suffered a significant loss of 20,000 jobs. Furthermore, revisions to May and June employment figures revealed a net decrease of 29,000 jobs from previous reports.
Perhaps the biggest news from the jobs report is that we've technically entered a recession, according to the rule named for economist Claudia Sahm. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Lous, the "Sahm Recession Indicator signals the start of a recession when the three-month moving average of the national unemployment rate (U3) rises by 0.50 percentage points or more relative to the minimum of the three-month averages from the previous 12 months."
It's 0.53 percentage points now.
"The Sahm Rule has been triggered before every U.S. recession since the 1970s," notes a report from Barron's. "Economist Claudia Sahm, the creator of the indicator, has noted, however, that this time could be different. The rising unemployment rate hasn’t come due to layoffs and negative monthly payrolls numbers, but thanks to a larger supply of workers even as hiring has continued."
The Dow experienced a nearly 500-point drop on Thursday over recession fears.
Stocks sold off Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling nearly 500 points, as investors’ fears over a recession surfaced.The Dow dropped 494 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 shed 1.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.3%. The Russell 2000 index, the small-cap benchmark that has rallied lately, dropped 3%.Some fresh data raised the specter of an economic contraction and the notion that the Federal Reserve could be too late to start cutting interest rates.Initial jobless claims rose the most since August 2023. And the ISM manufacturing index, a barometer of factory activity in the U.S., came in at 46.8%, worse than expected and a signal of economic contraction. The 10-year Treasury yield broke below 4% for the first time since February in a sign that more investors were seeking safe-haven assets. Make no mistake: This is catastrophic news for Kamala Harris. Harris and the Dems are most definitely freaking out.
(Updated) Townhall, August 5, 3034. The markets are aflame right now. We all saw the futures market before the opening bell, and it was brutal. Our less-than-stellar jobs report last Friday, which has triggered fears of a US recession, has arguably nuked the Asian markets. Nikkei suffered its worst day since 1987, sinking 12 percent, whereas Taiwan endured a market loss not seen since 1967. South Korea’s stock exchange suspended sell-offs. We all knew the opening bell would be a frenzy of chaos. Currently, over $1 trillion has been wiped off the books. It’s an absolute bloodbath (via NY Post):
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Wall Street’s main indexes nosedived on Monday, as fears of the United States tipping into recession following weak economic data last week rippled through global markets.The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Index plunged more than 1,100 points after the opening bell, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 5% after entering correction territory last week.The declines followed broad sell-offs overseas, with the Tokyo-based Nikkei index suffering its worst single-day retreat since the infamous “Black Monday” crash of 1987 — closing 12.4% lower — while European stocks fell to near six-month lows.The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 2.6% at 487.15 points, its lowest since Feb. 13.
As the market crashed, the Trump campaign was on the money, finding an old tweet from the Biden-Harris operation mocking Donald Trump for suggesting there would be a massive crash under their administration, and he was right.
Biden even claimed he “cured” the economy, while Harris has touted this presidency’s list of supposed accomplishments. This is not the best news when Harris is due to pick her running mate within the next 24-36 hours.
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