1. September Non-Farm Payrolls Delayed by 7 Weeks Shows Strengthening Labor Market
—The non-farm payrolls report, released almost seven weeks late, indicates a strengthening labor market after weaker months. Non-farm payrolls increased by 119,000, exceeding all expectations in a Bloomberg survey and marking the largest increase since April. The three-month average of new jobs rose to 62,000 from 18,000 in August.
2. Unemployment Rate Rises Unexpectedly, But Primarily Due to Increased Labor Force Participation
—The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.4%, the highest level since October 2021, but this was primarily due to a rise in the labor force participation rate to 62.4%, indicating an expansion in the labor force. Among different ethnic groups, the Asian unemployment rate surged by 0.8 percentage points, the highest level since 2021.
3. Leisure, Education, and Healthcare Services Drive Primary Growth, Manufacturing Continues to Drag Down—Leisure, education, and healthcare services drove the September non-farm payrolls growth, while manufacturing, a key focus of the Trump administration, saw its fifth consecutive month of job declines, with total manufacturing employment now at its lowest level since 2022.
4. Initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since September last week—For the week ending November 15, initial jobless claims fell to 220,000, reaching the lowest level since September, again showing signs of a stable job market.
5. Economic optimism drives the three major stock indexes higher
—Driven by continued optimism about economic growth, the three major U.S. stock indexes opened higher. As of press time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.3%, the S&P 500 was up 1.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 2.1%. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield fell about 1 basis point to 3.58%, while interest rate futures indicate a probability of about 37% for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December.
