Employment growth remained weak in May, the government advised earlier today, but the day’s other economic news offers more encouraging fare. Personal income and spending for April were strong enough to stabilize the year-over-year pace of growth. Meanwhile, the ISM factory index for May continues to signal growth–wobbly, perhaps, but growth just the same. Taken together with disappointing jobs report, it all adds up to a mixed bag, but that’s better than definitive, across-the-board evidence that the cycle has taken a turn for the worse.
Daily Archives: June 1, 2012
Another Month Of Slow Job Growth In May
Job growth remained sluggish in May, the Labor Department reports. Nonfarm private-sector payrolls rose by a slim 82,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis last month. That’s the smallest increase since last August. It’s also a sign—confirmation!—that economic growth overall slowed in the spring.
Major Asset Classes | May 2012 | Performance Review
May was a rough month for financial and commodity markets—the worst, in fact, since September 2011. Most of the major asset classes slumped last month. The main exception: U.S. Treasuries, which buoyed the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index. Inflation-indexed Treasuries in particular performed handsomely, jumping 1.7% in May. Otherwise, red ink in varying degrees dominated.