Economy

In light of the positive February Employment report NFTRH 333 opened up with some discussion of the details (the devil after all, is in those details)…

Employment, the Economy & Interest Rates

The February Employment report was a strong +295,000 with unemployment dropping to 5.5%.  In Friday’s Market Notes update we highlighted that per BLS this was a services-driven report as the leading edge of the economy, the smaller but key manufacturing and industrial sectors, have begun to decelerate (notably in forward-looking ‘New Orders’).

From FloatingPath.com (markups mine) we see the breakdown…

So it makes sense that ‘Jobs’ were strong because the large ‘back end’ of the US economy is responding to the years of corporate profit increases, stock market gains (wealth effect) and an overall benevolent Fed that has, every step of the way since 2008, done all it could to keep asset markets aloft (1st) and in appreciation mode (2nd).  Call them Things 1 & 2, mission accomplished.

Leisure and Hospitality… America’s getting out there again, living it up and feeling secure with the gains that eventually came from the post-2012 period, after we got our first little inkling two years ago in January of 2013 with the Semiconductor Equipment ramp up.  I had no idea then how strong the economy would eventually become, but the massive services sectors in the US are now fully kicked in and enjoying the benefits.

(more…)