The economy added a modest 42,000 nonfarm private jobs to payrolls in July on a net basis, according to today’s ADP employment report. The good news is that this is the sixth consecutive monthly gain. The bad news, as the accompanying press release advised, is that those six months of gains “have averaged a modest 37,000, with no evidence of acceleration.” Even an optimist has to concede that the pace so far in job creation has been tepid, at best. Unfortunately, it’s easy to think that more of the same is on tap for the foreseeable future. As such, that raises the possibility that the labor market remains vulnerable to a setback.
Daily Archives: August 4, 2010
STILL WONDERING, WORRYING & DEBATING ABOUT DEFLATION
The market’s outlook for inflation has been meandering just below 2% since late June, based on the yield spread between nominal and inflation-indexed 10-year Treasuries. The implication: the jury’s still out on whether deflationary risks are the real deal or just a figment of the crowd’s imagination.