The recent jobs report revealed several significant metrics, but it has also reignited the bull vs. bear debate on Wall Street. February saw 20,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy, but it also revealed that the U.S. economy is likely slowing in equities.
Among the findings revealed in the jobs report, equities appear to be slowing down and are being sold off to a small extent. Thus the bear argument has been reignited by some. On the other hand, some, including the Chief Investment Officer for the Independent Investors Alliance, argue that one data point doesn’t set a trend.
On the bear side, February wasn’t a great month for the U.S. economy. The 20,000 jobs added was only marginal compared to the 300,000 jobs added in January. Some of the growth reported in retail is expected to be one-off, or as a result of certain abnormalities. For example, Costco did very well on earnings, but the earnings were later reported to be the result of gas sales, which made up half of Costco earnings.
On the bull side, if you take the jobs numbers over the course of the last three months, the numbers average out to something that appears entirely normal. The big picture does not look bad right now. The numbers are also excellent in a few critical sectors, including retail, which has seen huge growth spurred in large part by an eCommerce boom and a good performance by chain retailers like Costco.
