Seattle Mortgage Rates Today 5/4/12
Seattle Mortgage Rates Today 5/4/12: “Uh-oh, Friday’s Jobs Report…” In anticipation of today’s Jobs Report comes a very disappointing number of jobs created. After the ADP report on Wednesday, analysts expected the number of jobs created in April to be 165,000. Between the creation of 130,000 private sector jobs offsetting government jobs the actual number of jobs created was an unsatisfactory 115,000. This is way below expectations. However, the unemployment rate has seen its all-time low since 2009 at 8.1%. What is dictating the unemployment rate is not new job growth but rather the labor force contracting by 300,000 workers.
“LFPR, pay attention!” One report we should pay more attention to is the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) which more accurately reflects the state of the labor market; it is calculated by the number of those eligible to work against the number of those actually working reflected as a ratio. Not surprisingly, the LFPR has seen its lowest reading since December of 1981—down to 63.6.
Given the disappointing Jobs Report bonds continue to keep their foothold and continue to trade near their all-time highs. Even if the Fed implements QE3 or another type of stimulus, it will most likely not impact job growth. Remember this: what goes up must come down. As we see bonds sitting pretty, any news will inevitably produce a knee-jerk reaction in the market and may negatively affect bonds. However, the debt crisis in the EU is still rearing its ugly head and may assist bonds in keeping their foothold. Hold tight, the ride is not over yet.
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