+252,000 vs. 230,000 expected and unemployment drops to 5.6%.
From BLS (full report here):
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. job gains occurred in professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing.
Fortress America continues to vacuum in the world's capital (see Buck, Uncle), asset prices continue to benefit and as such, so too do all those jobs attached to all those assets (energy excepted). Of the above items, only manufacturing sticks out as being antithetical to the strong dollar/global capital flows story. Yet a slightly weakening ISM for December did include increased hiring as we noted last week.
Conclusion? America is relatively good right now. Any changes to come appear to be of the creeping variety. We'll keep a watchful eye on each month's data across various economic signposts.
